Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for World Economics
No 1432:
Optimal Global Carbon Management with Ocean Sequestration
Wilfried Rickels and Thomas Lontzek
Abstract: We investigate the socially optimal anthropogenic
intervention into the global carbon cycle. The limiting factor for this
intervention is the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere, which causes
global warming. We apply a simplified two-box model to incorporate aspects
of the global carbon cycle in a more appropriate way than a simple
proportional decay assumption does. Anthropogenic intervention into the
global carbon cycle enters the model as the amount of CO2 emitted into the
atmosphere and the amount of CO2 injected into the deep ocean for purposes
of sequestration. We derive a critical cost level for sequestration above
which sequestration is just a temporary option or below which it is the
long-run option allowing extended use of fossil fuels. The second option
involves higher atmospheric stabilization levels, whereby the efficiency of
sequestration depends on the time preference and the inertia of the carbon
cycle
Keywords: Climate Change, Global Carbon Cycle, CO2 Emissions, Sequestration; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: Q30,; Q54; (follow links to similar papers)
36 pages, July 2008
Before downloading any of the electronic versions below
you should read our statement on
copyright.
Download GhostScript
for viewing Postscript files and the
Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing pdf files.
Downloadable files:
KW1432.pdf 
Download Statistics
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ()
or Helena Lundin ().
Programing by
Design Joakim Ekebom
