Synthesis of evidence yields high social cost of carbon due to structural model variation and uncertainties
Estimating the cost to society from a ton of CO 2, termed the social cost of carbon (SCC), requires connecting a model of the climate system with a representation of the economic and social effects of changes in climate, and the aggregation of diverse, uncertain impacts across both time and space. A growing literature has examined the effect of fundamental structural elements of the models supporting SCC calculations. This work has accumulated in a piecemeal fashion, leaving their relative importance unclear.