Mitigating Non-CO2 greenhouse gases in an integrated assessment model

This paper has two purposes. First, it incorporates one method for mitigating non-CO2 emissions in a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Mitigation of combustion-based CO2 emissions is a relatively straightforward exercise and has been implemented in many models. Non-CO2 emissions are driven by a number of factors and their mitigation relies on complex set of technologies. These have been approximated by so-called marginal abatement cost curves, which represent a reduced-form relation between the price of emissions and their percent reduction. Second, the paper illustrates how to readily convert a CGE model into an integrated assessment model (IAM) that links economic-based emissions to a temperature signal using a simple climate model. Subsequently, the temperature signal is linked to changes in one or more economic drivers such as crop yields or labor productivity. Both enhancements allow for more detailed modeling of the economics of climate change.