Julio Friedmann and his team of researchers at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy have devised a new method of calculating the economic impact investors and policy makers can expect as a result of a range of actions designed to lower the amount of carbon dioxide spewing into the atmosphere.
The levelized cost of carbon abatement (LCCA), is an improved methodology for comparing technologies and policies based on the cost of carbon abatement.
LCCA measures how much CO2 can be reduced by a specific investment or policy, taking into account relevant factors related to geography and specific asset.
It calculates (Figure 1) how much an investment or policy costs on the basis of dollars per ton of emissions reduced.
This gives us a framework to make a more apples-to-apples comparison of policy or portfolio options to decide which will be the most effective in cutting green houses gases and thus which will have the biggest impact in addressing climate change.
LCCA is a simple idea. It measures the cost of an intervention — say, replacing a gas power plant with a solar farm — in relation to the tons of carbon dioxide avoided because of it. The result is measured in dollars per metric ton of carbon dioxide abated.
The study is long enough and complicated enough to make any mathematician blissfully happy.
Reference- Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy Study, Bloomberg, Clean Technica