26 ms·
How are "natural capital costs" calculated?
by iwwr 14y ago
How are "natural capital costs" calculated?
- praptak 14y agoThis is complicated and will probably always be the area that is most prone to critique. The authors of the report put some effort to explain their methods - see p. 3.2.2, Valuation, pages 18-27 of the report. They seem to have used abatement costs (how much for removing the damage?) where available. For other factors like air pollution, estimates on increased health costs, crops, water, increased corrosion, etc. were used. IMHO the most tricky is the part on "opportunity costs" of things like land use - it's hard to put an uncontroversial price tag on the fact that you cannot go hiking on parts of land used by some industries.
- ams6110 14y agoWhoever is doing it makes up a number to support their narrative.
- rayiner 14y agoSee, e.g. http://www.esa.org/ecoservices/comm/body.comm.fact.ecos.html http://www.esa.org/ecoservices/comm/body.comm.fact.ecos.html In this case, New York avoided $6-8 billion in costs for constructing filtration plants by actively managing the Catskills watershed. Like with any "free" service, you can price it by asking: what would I have to pay to replace it?