Liabilities for the social cost of carbon

TL;DR

This paper estimates the national social cost of carbon using a meta-analysis and an integrated assessment model, highlighting how costs vary with income, population, and international liabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a method to quantify national and net liabilities for carbon emissions, considering cross-country impacts and vulnerabilities.

Findings

The social cost of carbon correlates with per capita income.

Net liability is positive in middle-income, carbon-intensive countries.

Poor and rich countries are generally compensated for their emissions.

Abstract

We estimate the national social cost of carbon using a recent meta-analysis of the total impact of climate change and a standard integrated assessment model. The average social cost of carbon closely follows per capita income, the national social cost of carbon the size of the population. The national social cost of carbon measures self-harm. Net liability is defined as the harm done by a country's emissions on other countries minus the harm done to a country by other countries' emissions. Net liability is positive in middle-income, carbon-intensive countries. Poor and rich countries would be compensated because their current emissions are relatively low, poor countries additionally because they are vulnerable.