Economic Impacts of Tipping Points in the Climate System

August 16, 2021Written by US National Academy of Sciences

Climate tipping points are one of the principal reasons for concern about climate change but have mostly been ignored by climate economists until recently, this report observes. The study models the eight tipping points covered in economic literature and finds they increase the social cost of carbon by around a quarter.

The report warns that this and the other calculations are probable underestimates, given that some tipping points, and their interactions with each other, have not been covered in the literature so far.

The model also finds that climate tipping points increase global economic risk, and increase economic losses almost everywhere.

This page was last updated November 17, 2022

Share this article