In 1997, the Competitive Enterprise Institute set out to answer just that question. CEI sponsored a conference on the implications of an international treaty on global warming in July of that year. This conference examined recent scientific developments, the economic and distributional impacts of proposed policies, the impact of political pressure on climate research, and the implications of applying the precautionary principle to global climate change.

The book that sprung forth from that conference, The Costs of Kyoto: Climate Change Policy and Its Implications, explored the economic and social costs of an international climate treaty, the scientific basis for a treaty, and the broader implications the global warming issue has for environmental policy in the United States and abroad. Taken as a whole, these essays demonstrate that the risks of global warming may be less than the risks imposed by global warming policy.

With the Global Warming battleground heating up once again despite President Bush's stated opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, CEI's The Costs of Kyoto is as timely as ever. Click on the links below to download its various sections. To order actual copies of the book (and its companion video), follow the instructions at the bottom of the page.

INTRODUCTION

            Jonathan H. Adler Competitive Enterprise Institute

 

PART I - DOMESTIC ECONOMIC IMPACTS

 

THE COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY

            Wilbur Steger, CONSAD

WHAT CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES MEAN FOR CONSUMERS

                  Fran Smith, Consumer Alert

IMPACTS ON WORKERS 

                        Eugene Trisko, United Mine Workers Association

Click here to download the Introduction and Part 1 in PDF form

 

 

PART II: GLOBAL IMPACTS

 

GLOBAL IMPACTS OF AN GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE TREATY

            David Montgomery, Charles River Associates

INTERNATIONAL IMPACTS - AN AUSTRALIAN VIEW

            Brian Fisher, ABARE

IMPACTS ON THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT

            Deepak Lal, UCLA

 

Click here to download Part 2 in PDF form

 

 

PART III: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLIMATE SCIENCE

 

THE STATE OF CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE

            Roy Spencer, NASA

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLIMATE SCIENCE

            Roger Bate, Institute of Economic Affairs

MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

            David Murray, STATS

 

Click here to download Part 3 in PDF form 

 

PART IV: POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CLIMATE POLICY

 

THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

            Wilfred Beckerman, University of Oxford

ECONOMICS AND CLIMATE POLICY

            Robert Crandall, Brookings Institution

CONCLUSION

            Fred L. Smith, Jr., Competitive Enterprise Institute

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

 

Click here to download Part 4 in PDF form