The net benefit of emissions controls

English mathematican Freeman Dyson, has reviewed Wm. Nordhaus' account of his economic models of emissions controls. Nordhaus claims that passive 'backstop' measures significantly outperform the catastrophists' preference for strangling carbon emissions. But, as Dyson points out, Nordahus has not considered the scientific merit of any of the controls he models and has not provided much detail of the passive measures.

"Here are the net values of the various policies as calculated by the DICE model. The values are calculated as differences from the business-as-usual model, without any emission controls. A plus value means that the policy is better than business-as-usual, with the reduction of damage due to climate change exceeding the cost of controls. A minus value means that the policy is worse than business-as-usual, with costs exceeding the reduction of damage. The unit of value is $1 trillion, and the values are specified to the nearest trillion. The net value of the optimal program, a global carbon tax increasing gradually with time, is plus three—that is, a benefit of some $3 trillion. The Kyoto Protocol has a value of plus one with US participation, zero without US participation. The 'Stern' policy has a value of minus fifteen, the 'Gore' policy minus twenty-one, and 'low-cost backstop' plus seventeen"  extract from: The Question of Global Warming—emphasis added.

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