This article considers whether coal must depart or whether it may still dominate power production during the 21st century, in view of the challenges implied by regional pollution reduction and global warming mitigation.

How large is the social cost penalty if one makes the wrong choice because of uncertainties in the estimates of the costs and benefits of environmental policy measures? For discrete choices there is no general rule other than the recommendation to always carefully compare costs and benefits when introducing policies for environmental protection.

This paper analyses the optimal timing and macro-economic costs of carbon emission reductions that mitigate the global average atmospheric temperature increase.