This project leaded by Bjorn Lomborg aims to provide the international political community present at COP-15 with a better foundation to do what is rationally the right thing if they want to do most good addressing climate change at the scarce resources available. This importantly includes looking beyond traditional mitigation and towards the alternatives which are not necessarily at the political agenda at the time being.
In other word, the key question to answer, is the following:
If the global community wants to spend up to, say $ 250 billion per year over the next 10 years to diminish the adverse effects of climate changes, and to do most good for the world, which solutions would yield the greatest net benefits? - I.e. what are the costs and benefits of different viable climate interventions, given some reasonable assumptions about sensible policies for the rest of 21st century?
The projects cover a wide range of approaches to battle climate change; ranging from mitigation through well known traditional carbon tax and quota mechanisms as well as different adaptation strategies, investment in research and development in energy technologies and more innovative solutions of geo engineering. The solutions can broadly be separated into 6 solution categories:
1. Mitigation of CO2 emission (more traditional mitigation mechanisms)
2. Alternative mitigation mechanisms (black soot, methane, forest carbon sequestration etc)
3. Adaptation strategies
4. R&D initiatives in existing energy technologies
5. Geo-engineering (R&D in SRM, Air capture etc)
6. Technology transfer initiativesClaudia Kemfert is lead author of the Assessment Paper focusing on costs and benefits of Methane Mitigation initiatives as a solution to Climate Change. Wolf Peter Schill is the Co- Author.
The Assessment Paper focusing on Methane Mitigation Initiatives to battle Climate Change describes the merits of Methane Mitigation as a possible solution to climate change and assesses the two to five most promising specific solutions within this solution category.