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Accounting for Biodiversity Loss Raises the Social Cost of CO2

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  • Wingenroth, Jordan

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Prest, Brian C.

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Rennels, Lisa
  • Rennert, Kevin

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Errickson, Frank
  • Anthoff, David

Abstract

Scientific evidence of the effects of climate change on biodiversity continues to accumulate. However, economic damages from biodiversity loss go unaddressed in recent updates of the social cost of carbon (SC-CO2), implicitly assigning biodiversity a zero-dollar value in federal climate policy analyses. Here we show that the value that society places solely on the existence of biodiversity, termed the nonuse value, contributes an additional $8 per tCO2 to the total. That contribution is on par with the contribution of global energy-use costs and exceeds the contribution of coastal infrastructure loss due to sea-level rise.

Suggested Citation

  • Wingenroth, Jordan & Prest, Brian C. & Rennels, Lisa & Rennert, Kevin & Errickson, Frank & Anthoff, David, 2024. "Accounting for Biodiversity Loss Raises the Social Cost of CO2," RFF Working Paper Series 24-23, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-24-23
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    File URL: https://www.rff.org/documents/4714/WP_24-23.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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