Climate economist Gernot Wagner shared his views on the current state of U.S. and global climate policy during a public virtual event sponsored by the College of the Environment on October 20.“What we know about climate change is bad and should have prompted us to act a long time ago,” writes Wagner, who teaches climate economics and policy at NYU. “What we don’t know is potentially much worse.” Wagner discussed climate policy, through an economic lens, during a talk entitled “The True Cost of Carbon.” The event was attended by almost 50 Wesleyan community members and sponsored by the College of the Environment. Assistant Professor of Economics Jennifer Raynor, a COE faculty member and current COE Think Tank fellow, invited Wagner to speak.
“Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are changing the world as we know it. We are experiencing not only increasing temperatures, but also rising seas, melting ice, and more frequent extreme weather events,” said Raynor. “Over the next two weeks at COP 26, world leaders will negotiate policies to limit future changes and adapt to the changes yet to come. It has never been more important to understand the true costs of carbon on the things we value, such as water, energy, transportation, biodiversity, and human health.”Wagner writes the Climate column for Bloomberg Green, and is the author, among others, of Climate Shock (Princeton, with Martin Weitzman) and, most recently, of Geoengineering: the Gamble (Polity, 2021). A recording of the event is available to Wesleyan community members. Click here to request access.