Here’s what you need to know about ‘the social cost of greenhouse gases’—a key climate metric

“This was a strong first step,” Tamma Carleton, an assistant economics professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, said of the reinstatement of the social cost of greenhouse gasses. Carleton co-authored a paper with Michael Greenstone published in January that outlined the steps toward updating the social cost of greenhouse gasses. “Increasing the social cost of carbon from its unjustifiably low levels under the Trump administration will lead to policy choices that lower emissions, ultimately lowering the harm that Americans face from a warming and more variable climate,” Carleton says.