Discount rates, ethical conundrums, and compromising on climate policy

James Murray
clock

New paper aims to calculate a value for discount rates to ensure economic models assessing climate impacts reflect ongoing ethical debates about climate action

Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush? Is money now really always more preferable to money later? Or, to put it another way, how much value do you place on the health and prosperity of future generations?...

To continue reading this article...

Join BusinessGreen

In just a few clicks you can start your free BusinessGreen Lite membership for 12 months, providing you access to:

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis, and opinion from Europe’s leading source of information on the Green economy and business
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our daily news alert
  • Our weekly newsletter with the best of the week’s green business news and analysis

Join now

 

Already a BusinessGreen member?

Login

More on Policy

Let's rethink climate action as a local government issue

Let's rethink climate action as a local government issue

Climate change is a local issue just as much as is a national or international one - so let's give councils more resources and responsibility to tackle it, writes Exmouth Town Council's climate officer Zoey Cooper

Zoey Cooper, Exmouth Town Council
clock 22 April 2025 • 4 min read
'Heading for yet another sewage-heavy year': Study reveals how pollution incidents rose again in 2024

'Heading for yet another sewage-heavy year': Study reveals how pollution incidents rose again in 2024

Annual Water Quality Report from Surfers Against Sewage warns industry remains badly off track to meet targets for cutting pollution incidents

James Murray
clock 16 April 2025 • 7 min read
Study: 1,200 Olympic swimming pools of water lost each day due to 'crumbling infrastructure'

Study: 1,200 Olympic swimming pools of water lost each day due to 'crumbling infrastructure'

Three billion litres of water are wasted every day through leaky pipes, costing customers almost £400m a year, according to a new Lib Dem-backed analysis

Stuart Stone
clock 14 April 2025 • 5 min read