Carbon price should rise 200pc to avoid dangerous climate change

The price of carbon should be increased by up to 200 per cent to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, according to a leading new study.

Researchers from the Universities of Exeter, Zurich, Stanford and Chicago have called on policymakers not to ignore future climate tipping points and predicted resulting impacts.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change and argues that the prospect of future tipping points should significantly increase the amount we are willing to pay for carbon now to limit climate change.

The research concluded that the cost of carbon emissions now should be increased by between 50 and 200 per cent and setting a correspondingly high tax would trigger a reduction in emissions and limit the impacts of climate change.

Using a model, the researchers found that the likelihood of human activities taking the climate system past a tipping point increases from 2.5 per cent in 2050 to almost 50 per cent in 2200.

Professor Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter, said: “Our results support recent suggestions that the costs of carbon emissions used to inform policy are being underestimated. We are calling on policymakers to respond the prospect of triggering future climate tipping points by applying the brakes now and putting a high price on carbon emissions before its too late. The additional carbon tax that our model recommends can be thought of as an insurance premium levied on society to delay irreversible damages in the future.”

The study analysed various tipping points, including the collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, irreversible melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet and dieback of the Amazon rainforest.