The initial hope for climate science was that an improved understanding of what the future might bring would lead to appropriate public policies and effective international climate agreements. Even if that hope is not realized, as now seems likely, scientific advances leading to a more refined...

Studies in both corporate fi nance and environmental economics have described how discount rates should vary with the maturity of a project. The former suggests that the cost of capital should increase with the time horizon of the cash flow, while the latter recommends declining term structures...

Climate change is real and dangerous. Exactly how bad it will get, however, is uncertain. Uncertainty is particularly relevant for estimates of one of the key parameters: equilibrium climate sensitivity—how eventual temperatures will react as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations double....