Refining Estimates of the Social Cost of Carbon | The White House

As part of our ongoing effort to measure the impact of reducing carbon emissions, today we are issuing updated values for the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), which are used to estimate the value to society of reducing carbon emissions. These updated values reflect minor technical corrections to the estimates we released in May of this year. For example, these technical corrections result in a central estimated value of the social cost of carbon in 2015 of $37 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2), instead of the $38 per metric ton estimate released in May.

At the same time, in response to public and stakeholder interest in SCC values, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) will provide a new opportunity for public comment on the estimates in addition to the public comment opportunities already available through particular rulemakings. Details on this public comment process will be published soon in the Federal Register.

The estimate of the SCC has been developed over many years, using the best science available, and with input from the public. Rigorous evaluation of costs and benefits is a core tenet of the rulemaking process. It is particularly important in the area of climate change, which is already imposing tangible costs through impacts that include an increase in prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, ocean acidification, and sea-level rise.

See full Press Release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/01/refining-estimates-social-cost-carbon