Lunchtime Must Read: Paul Krugman: Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?

Paul Krugman: Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free? “Where is the new optimism about climate change and growth coming from?…

…It has long been clear that a well-thought-out strategy of emissions control, in particular one that puts a price on carbon via either an emissions tax or a cap-and-trade scheme, would cost much less than the usual suspects want you to think. But the economics of climate protection look even better now than they did a few years ago. On one side, there has been dramatic progress in renewable energy technology…. On the other side, it turns out that putting a price on carbon would have large ‘co-benefits’–positive effects over and above the reduction in climate risks–and that these benefits would come fairly quickly. The most important of these co-benefits, according to the I.M.F. paper, would involve public health: burning coal causes many respiratory ailments, which drive up medical costs and reduce productivity…”