Climate uncertainty and the regional economic impacts of global climate change

摘要

The US Department of Energy funded pioneering research analyzing the effects of climate change and CO(sup 2) fertilization at the regional level in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas (MINK) region. That study used existing process models of the agricultural, water, energy, and forestry sectors and of the regional economy to conduct a wide-ranging, integrated analysis of the regional economic effects of climate change. Neither the full integration of the process models nor the full investigation of the uncertainties of climate and economic response to climate was accomplished because (1) the process models were time-consuming to run, and (2) the MINI( study used a single rich historical climate analog -- the 1930s '' Dustbowl'' period -- to depict climate change. More analysis was required to develop ranges of climate influences over more extreme climate conditions.