Jeroen van den Bergh, professor in Barcelona, schrijft regelmatig diepgaande wetenschappelijke artikelen over CO2-beprijzing. Focus daarbij is op de maatschappelijke kosten van de CO2-prijs, met een kritische analyse van bestaande literatuur en een overzicht van de meest belangrijke uitgangspunten in het wetenschappelijk debat.
There is a widespread sense that a sufficiently stringent climate mitigation policy, that is, a considerable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid extreme climate change, will come with very high economic costs for society. This is supported by many cost–benefit analyses (CBA) and policy cost assessments of climate policy. All of these, nevertheless, are based on debatable ssumptions. This paper will argue instead that safe climate policy is not excessively expensive and is indeed cheaper than suggested by most current studies. To this end, climate CBA and policy cost assessments are critically evaluated, and as a replacement twelve complementary perspectives on the cost of climate policy are offered.