Professor Maureen Cropper has been named as the co-chair of an interdisciplinary National Academies panel that will examine different approaches to estimating the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) and make recommendations to ensure that the approach adopted reflects the best available science and methods.  The study was requested by the Federal Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon, co-chaired by the Council of Economic Advisers and the Office of Management and Budget.

The SCC attaches a dollar value to the long term damage caused by a one ton increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in a given year.  The SCC is intended to be a comprehensive estimate that includes, among other costs, changes in net agricultural productivity, risks to human health, and property damages from increased flood risks.  The SCC is used by Federal agencies in valuing the social impacts of regulations and its estimated value thus plays a key role in the formulation of regulatory policy.

The panel held its first meeting in September 2015 and will deliver its final report early in 2017.