Yale Climate Connections: "Drastic Climate Action Is the Best Course for Economic Growth, New Study Finds"
RFF Fellow Brian Prest comments on a new study that finds the economic benefits of climate action outweigh the costs.
Climate economist Brian Prest with Resources for the Future, not involved in the study, noted that prior papers have similarly concluded that the Paris targets are economically justified, and a 2% discount rate is supported by other studies. But he pointed to an ongoing debate in the climate economics literature regarding whether climate damages will slow economic growth. If they don’t, that would not justify quite such rapid climate pollution cuts as in the working paper’s optimal pathway.
