# Readings

Course readings.
SES # | TOPICS | READINGS
--- | --- | ---
1 | Introduction and overview |
2 | Institutions I: political and analytical organizations | Uniting on Climate: A Guide to the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2007, pp. 7-38. (PDF - 3.7 MB) Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF - 1.9 MB)
3 | Review of the mathematics of climate analysis |
4 | Climate I: past climate, and gases, aerosols and radiation | Karl, Thomas R., and Kevin E. Trenberth. "Modern Global Climate Change." Science 302 (2003): 1719-1723. Prinn, Ronald. "Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases." In The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World. Edited by Christopher Field and Michael Raupach. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781559635271. Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group I, Fourth Assessment Report, pp. 1-17. (PDF - 3.7 MB) Andreae, Meinrat, Chris Jones, and Peter Cox. "Strong Present-Day Aerosol Cooling Implies a Hot Future." Nature 435 (2005): 1187-1190.
5 | Economics primer | Callan, Scott, and Janet Thomas. Environmental Economics and Management: Theory, Policy and Applications. 4th ed. Florence, KY: South-Western, 2006, chapter 2. ISBN: 9780324320671. Kolstad, Charles. Environmental Economics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, chapter 4, pp. 49-77. ISBN: 9780195119541.
6 | Climate II: dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans | Schneider, Stephen. "Introduction to Climate Modeling." In Climate System Modeling. Edited by Kevin Trenberth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 3-26. ISBN: 9780521432313. Hansen, James, et al. "Earth's Energy Imbalance: Confirmation and Implications." Science 308 (2005): 1431-1435. Penner, Joyce. "Climate Change: The Cloud Conundrum." Nature 432 (2004): 962-963.
7 | Economics of the global commons | The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer. US Congressional Budget Office, 2003, chapter 3. (PDF - 2.9 MB) Callan, Scott, and Janet Thomas. Environmental Economics and Management: Theory, Policy and Applications. 4th ed. Florence, KY: South-Western, 2006, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780324320671.
8 | Economics I: economic growth, technology and greenhouse gas emissions | The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer. US Congressional Budget Office, 2003, chapters 1, 3, and 4. (PDF - 2.9 MB) Weyant, J. "Economic Models: How They Work and Why Their Results Differ." In Climate Change: Science, Strategies, and Solutions. Edited by Eileen Clausen. Washington, DC: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2001. ISBN: 9789004122765.
9 | Institutions II: the international climate negotiations | Jacoby, Henry, and David Reiner. "Getting Climate on Track after The Hague: An Update." Chapter 15 in The Global Governance Reader: Concepts and Issues. Edited by Rorden Wilkinson. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. ISBN: 9780415332064. Thirteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCCC and Third Sessions of the MOP to the Kyoto Protocol, 3-15 December. Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2007. Bali Action Plan, Decision -/CP.13. Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 2007. (Also skim the COP-13 items at UNFCCC)
10 | Economics II: the economics of greenhouse gas emissions control | Pizer, William. "Choosing Price or Quantity Controls for Greenhouse Gases." In Climate Change Economics and Policy: An RFF Anthology. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 2001. ISBN: 9781891853043. "The Role of Coal in Energy Growth and CO2 Emissions." Chapter 2 in The Future of Coal: Options for a Carbon-Constrained World. PDF available at The Future of Coal. McKinsey Greenhouse Gas Reports: McKinsey has several different reports related to greenhouse gas reduction. This site has related links and full reports: McKinsey & Company Executive Summary, Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost? McKinsey & Company, 2007. (PDF) Jaffe, Adam, Richard Newell, and Robert Stavins. "Energy-Efficient Technologies and Climate Change Policies: Issues and Evidence." In Climate Change Economics and Policy: An RFF Anthology. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future, 2001. ISBN: 9781891853043. Babiker, Mustafa, John Reilly, and Henry Jacoby. "The Kyoto Protocol and Developing Countries." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 56, October 1999. (PDF)
11 | Introduction to the Toy Integrated Global System Model |
12 | Climate III: interaction of atmosphere, oceans and biosphere | Prinn, Ronald, et al. "Integrated Global System Model for Climate Policy Assessment: Feedbacks and Sensitivity Studies." Climatic Change 41 (1999): 469-546, sections 1, 2 and 3. Sokolov, A. P., et al. "The MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) Version 2: Model Description and Baseline Evaluation." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 124, July 2005. (PDF - 1.4 MB)
13 | Analysis of the benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation | Nordhaus, William, and Joseph Boyer. Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, chapter 4. ISBN: 9780262640541. Stern, Nicholas. "Economic Modeling of Climate Change Impacts." Chapter 6 in The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521700801. Oppenheimer, Michael. "Defining Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference: The Role of Science, the Limits of Science." Risk Analysis 25 (2005): 1399-1407.
14 | Economics III: climate policy analysis | Nordhaus, William, and Joseph Boyer. Warming the World: Economic Models of Global Warming. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, chapter 7. ISBN: 9780262640541. Executive Summary, Scenarios of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Anthropogenic Concentrations. U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.1a, 2007. (PDF) Toth, Ferenc, et al. "Exploring Options for Global Climate Policy: A New Analytical Framework." Environment 44 (2002): 23-33.
15 | Emissions trading and tax systems | Ellerman, A. Denny, Paul Joskow, and David Harrison, Jr. "Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases." Washington, DC: Pew Center for Global Climate Change. (PDF) Paltsev, Sergey, et al. "Assessment of U.S. GHG Cap-and-Trade Proposals." Climate Policy 8 (2008): 395-420. Parry, Ian, and William Pizer. "Combating Global Warming: Is Taxation or Cap-and-Trade a Better Strategy for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions?" Regulation 30 (2007): 18-22.
16 | Climate machine IV: regional impacts of climate change | Talbot, David. "Planning for a Climate-Changed World." Technology Review, May-June 2007, pp. 63-70. National Assessment Synthesis Team, U.S. Global Change Research Program. Climate Change Impacts on the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 1-37. ISBN: 9780521000758. Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II, Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF) Stroeve, Julienne, et al. "Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummets in 2007." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 89 (2008): 13-14. Tedesco, Marco. "A New Record in 2007 for Melting in Greenland." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 383. Wolff, Eric. "Whither Antarctic Sea Ice?" Science 302 (2003): 1164. Whitfield, John. "Alaska's Climate: Too Hot to Handle." Nature 425 (2003): 338-339.
17 | Review of methods of uncertainty analysis |
18 | Integrated assessment I: sensitivity and uncertainty analysis | Prinn, Ronald, et al. "Integrated Global System Model for Climate Policy Assessment: Feedbacks and Sensitivity Studies." Climatic Change 41 (1999): 469-546, sections 4 and 5. Webster, Mort, et al. "Uncertainty Analysis of Climate Change and Policy Response." Climatic Change 61 (2003): 295-320. Forest, Chris, Peter Stone, and Andrei Sokolov. "Estimated PDFs of Climate System Properties Including Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings." Geophysical Research Letters 33 (2006): 1-4. Webster, Mort. "Communicating Climate Change Uncertainty to Policy-Makers and the Public." Climatic Change 61 (2003): 1-8.
19 | Sea level rise and adaptation | Gibbons, Sheila J. Arenstam, and Robert J. Nicholls. "Island Abandoment and Sea-Level Rise: An Historical Analog from the Chesapeake Bay, USA." Global Environmental Change 16 (2006): 40-47. Chao, B. F., Y. H. Wu, and Y. S. Li. "Impact of Artificial Reservoir Water Impoundment on Global Sea Level." Science 320 (2008): 212-214.
20 | Methods for decision under uncertainty |
21 | Integrated assessment II: deciding global effort and burden shares | Webster, Mort, Lisa Jakobovitz, and James Norton. "Learning about Climate Change and Implications for Near-Term Policy." Climatic Change 89 (2008): 67-85. Aldy, Joseph, and Robert Stavins. "Introduction: International Policy Architecture for Global Climate Change." Chapter 1 in Architectures for Agreement: Addressing Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521692175.
22 | Climate change and the Arctic region | Bunn, Andrew, et al. "Northern High-Latitude Ecosystems Respond to Climate Change." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 333-335. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Highlights Brochure, Impacts of a Warming Arctic. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 1-16. ISBN: 9780521617789.
23 | Climate V: unresolved problems in climate analysis | Kerr, Richard. "Confronting the Bogeyman of the Climate System." Science 310 (2005): 432-433. Harvell, C. Drew, et al. "Climate Warming and Disease Risks for Terrestrial and Marine Biota." Science 296 (2002): 2158-2162. Kerr, Richard. "A Bit of Icy Antarctica Is Sliding Toward the Sea." Science 305 (2004): 1897. Morton, Oliver. "Is This What it Takes to Save the World?" Nature 447 (2007): 132-136. Mann, Michael, et al. "Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Revisited." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 88 (2007): 349. Emanuel, Kerry. "Increasing Destructiveness of Tropical Cyclones Over the Past 30 Years." Nature 436 (2005): 686-688. Schiermeier, Quirin. "Clear Skies Raise Global-Warming Estimates." Nature 435 (2005): 1142-1143.
24 | Discussion of homework sets and the policy exercise |
25 | Student team presentations |
26 | Final summary and discussion |