Deciding the Social Cost of Carbon

What is the social cost of carbon?

The social cost of carbon is a method of calculating the impacts of additional carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, including non-market impacts and human health. The reasoning for assigning a cost per ton of CO2 emitted is to aid decision-makers in evaluating whether particular actions designed to reduce climate change are appropriate and justified.

For example, if the cost of carbon is set at 50 EUR per ton, and the emissions of a project design can be reduced by 1000 tons by using different materials or processes, then the investment of different materials or processes up to the cost of 50 000 EUR could be justified as making economic sense, while anything over that may lead to other options outside of materials and processes being pursued in order to reduce emissions.

How do I change the social cost of carbon in my project?

The social cost of carbon is set at 50 EUR by default in your Company Account. This can be changed by your company account manager by navigating to your company page:

Your company account manager can then change the price and unit of currency at which your company sets its social cost of carbon:

Where can I see my design's social cost of carbon?

You can find the estimated social cost of carbon for your design at the top of its results page for most tools.

Further breakdowns of the social cost of carbon per life cycle stage can be found in our 'Life Cycle Carbon - Global' and 'Life Cycle Carbon - North America' tools.