The status of integrated assessment in climatic policy making. An overview of inconsistencies underlying response functions

What climatic lessons can be derived from cost and benefit integrated assessment models? This paper presents state of the art methods to assess climate change impacts and build corresponding response functions. These last constitute one of the keystone of cost and benefit integrated assessment approaches to climate change. It focuses on the many shortcomings and inconsistencies underlying these functions and highlights how they can act as an invisible hand driving modelling results. The paper deduces lessons over the status of cost and benefit integrated assessment models to guide decision makers on climatic policy design, and closes on some relevant methodological insights over the treatment of these issues. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.