Friends of Science
News release
The Friends of Science Society has published a report by Ken Gregory titled “Alberta’s Proposed Climate Plan: A Burden with No Benefit”.
The abstract
“The Alberta Government intends to impose a carbon tax of C$20/tCO2 on January 1, 2017, and C$30/tCO2 on January 1, 2018. This action is not based on the most recent and best quality climate science and economic evaluations. The expected warming from 2016 to 2100 due to greenhouse gas emissions is only 0.6 °C using the best climate science. The net social benefit of emissions is about 17 US$/tCO2 . A carbon tax will harm all Albertans for no benefit. The climate plan is forecast to reduce global temperatures by 0.00007 °C by 2030.”
The net social benefit of CO2 emissions are based on empirical observation of global temperatures, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates of greenhouse gas forcings, new estimates of aerosol forcings, adjustments for the natural warming from the Little Ice Age and urban development, and the FUND integrated assessment model.
On a global basis, the benefits of CO2 fertilization and the small warming effect of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are much greater than any harmful effects of warming. Our CO2 emissions will have only positive impacts in Canada which increase throughout the 21st century.
The report can be found at http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/AB_Climate%20Plan_Economic_Impact_Gregory.pdf.
The full technical report can be found at http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/AB_Climate%20Plan_Economic_Impact_Gregory_Tech.pdf
About Friends of Science
Friends of Science has spent a decade reviewing a broad spectrum of literature on climate change and have concluded the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2). Friends of Science is made up of a growing group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens.