Book: The Climate Casino

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The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World

William Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics

(Yale University Press)

Climate change is profoundly altering our world in ways that pose major risks to human societies and natural systems, according to William Nordhaus. He maintains that we have entered the “Climate Casino” and are rolling the global-warming dice. In this book the author contends there is still time to turn around and walk out of the casino.

Bringing together all the important issues surrounding the climate debate, Nordhaus describes the science, economics, and politics involved — and the steps necessary to reduce the perils of global warming. He discusses the problem from start to finish: from the beginning, where warming originates in our personal energy use, to the end, where societies employ regulations or taxes or subsidies to slow the emissions of gases responsible for climate change.

Nordhaus offers a new analysis of why earlier policies, such as the Kyoto Protocol, failed to slow carbon dioxide emissions, how new approaches can succeed, and which policy tools will most effectively reduce emissions.