(626c) Carbon Management in the Post-Cap-and-Trade Carbon Economy-Part II

This paper is the second installment in our continuing research into an economic model for comprehensive carbon management that focuses on changes in the climate system in the biosphere due to anthropogenic activity.

Last year we presented the unique features of our economic model based on the degree to which carbon flux changes due to anthropogenic activity, and the carbon metric used to value the resulting change in the climate system.

This year, our paper focuses on how the carbon metric can be rendered to capture the effect of each economic activity on the climate system, thus allowing us to calculate a Return on Climate System (RoCS) metric for all economic assets and activity.

The result is that the RoCS for each public and private economic activity and entity can be calculated by summing up the RoCS for each individual economic asset and activity in which an entity is engaged.

Such a macro-level metric may be used to rank entities including public and private institutions such as corporations, governments, and even entire nations, providing status and trending insights to evaluate policies on both a micro- and macro-economic level.

The standards for calculating the RoCS can (and should be) promulgated as part of the Generally Accepted Accounted Principles (GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to ensure standardized and consistent reporting.

The value of such insights on the climate system at all levels will be crucial to managing anthropogenic activity to minimize the effect on the climate system. Without the insights provided by a comprehensive and standardized RoCS, managing anthropogenic activity will be elusive and difficult to achieve, at best.

We propose that research into such a comprehensive and standardized RoCS be considered a priority.