Flammable Planet: Wildfires and the Social Cost of Carbon
- Abstract
This report focuses on identifying the potential magnitude of wildfire damages from climate change. First, we review the science behind the increase in wildfire risk due to climate change, and discuss the potential impacts. Next, we review the economics of wildfire impacts more generally, due to a lack of damage estimates from climate change-induced wildfire risk. We then attempt to roughly approximate the increase in wildfire damage due to climate change. While the resulting estimates indicate that the potential cost of wildfires could be significant, they should be interpreted only as rough calculations. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the findings and their implications for the future estimation of wildfire damages from climate change.
- Resource Type
- Report
- Author
- Peter Howard
- Resource URL
- http://122.72.0.7www.policyintegrity.org/files/publications/Flammable_Planet__Wildfires_and_Social_Cost_of_Carbon.pdf
- Date
- September 2014
- Series Title
- The Cost of Carbon Project
- Institution
- Environmental Defense Fund, the Institute for Policy Integrity, and the Natural Resource Defense Council
- Organization Type
- Ngo
- Climate and Environmental Impact
- Wildfires
- Other
- Economics/cost analysis