David Roberts: Why We Overestimate the Costs of Tackling Climate Change

grist.org Recent days have seen a flurry of blogospheric back-and-forth about the new CBO and EPA reports, and more generally about the costs and benefits of climate change legislation. As someone who believes the costs are overestimated and the benefits underrated, I thought I'd weigh in. Here are three key questions: How available and affordable are low-carbon alternatives today? How available and affordable will they be in the future? Do the economic models used to project the cost of carbon regulations accurately reflect the answers to Nos. 1 and 2? If the answer to No. 1 is "scarce and expensive" and the answer to No. 2 is "still scarce and expensive" then an extremely high price signal and much economic pain will be required to force providers to scale up alternatives and consumers to substitute them, especially in the short-term. That pessimism is endemic to official projections. Luckily, those aren't the right answers, at least I don't think so. Cost-effective low-carbon ... (link)