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Building Interpretable Climate Emulators for Economics

Aryan Eftekhari, Doris Folini, Aleksandra Friedl, Felix Kübler, Simon Scheidegger, Olaf Schenk

arXiv 16 Nov 2024 · Econometrics

arXiv:2411.10768 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

We introduce a framework for developing efficient and interpretable climate emulators (CEs) for economic models of climate change. The paper makes two main contributions. First, we propose a general framework for constructing carbon-cycle emulators (CCEs) for macroeconomic models. The framework is implemented as a generalized linear multi-reservoir (box) model that conserves key physical quantities and can be customized for specific applications. We consider three versions of the CCE, which we evaluate within a simple representative agent economic model: (i) a three-box setting comparable to DICE-2016, (ii) a four-box extension, and (iii) a four-box version that explicitly captures land-use change. While the three-box model reproduces benchmark results well and the fourth reservoir adds little, incorporating the impact of land-use change on the carbon storage capacity of the terrestrial biosphere substantially alters atmospheric carbon stocks, temperature trajectories, and the optimal mitigation path. Second, we investigate pattern-scaling techniques that transform global-mean temperature projections from CEs into spatially heterogeneous warming fields. We show how regional baseline climates, non-uniform warming, and the associated uncertainties propagate into economic damages.

Citation extraction

65
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distinct cited
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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Ciais, P., C. Sabine, G. Bala, L. Bopp, V. Brovkin, et al., and Joan… (2014) Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles0.9416383%
2Folini, Doris, Aleksandra Friedl, Felix Kübler, and Simon Scheidegger (2024) The climate in climate economics self0.89017671%
3Lynch, Cary, Corinne Hartin, Ben Bond-Lamberty, and Ben Kravitz (2017) An open-Access CMIP5 pattern library for temperature and precipitation: Description and methodology0.874132100%
4Desmet, Klaus and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg (2024) Climate change economics over time and space0.87472100%
5Nordhaus, William D (2017) Revisiting the Social Cost of Carbon0.87472100%
6Krusell, Per and Jr. Smith, Anthony A (2022) Climate change around the world0.87462100%
7Geoffroy, Olivier, D. Saint-Martin, G. Bellon, A. Voldoire, D. J.L.… (2013) Transient climate response in a two-layer energy-balance model. Part II: Representation of the efficacy of deep-ocean heat uptak…0.81142100%
8Kotlikoff, Laurence, Felix Kubler, Andrey Polbin, and Simon Scheideg… (2024) Can today’s and tomorrow’s world uniformly gain from carbon taxation?0.81142100%
9Santer, B. D., T. M. L Wigley, M. E. Schlesinger, and J. F. B. Mitch… (1990) Developing climate scenarios from equilibrium GCM results0.81142100%
10Tebaldi, Claudia and Julie M. Arblaster (2014) Pattern scaling: Its strengths and limitations, and an update on the latest model simulations0.81142100%

Showing the top 10 of 68 scored citations.