The temporal aspects of the social cost of greenhouse gases

The purpose of this study is to investigate the temporal aspects of the social cost of greenhouse gases (GHGs), that is, timing of emissions, discounting, type of GHG (where different GHGs have different atmospheric lifetimes), and the influence of calculation period on model results. I show graphically how the social costs of GHGs depend on different parameter values and how the global damage potentials for methane and sulfur hexafluoride evolve over time. I find that the calculation period ultimately should be modeled to be consistent with the discount rate and that the "global-warming potential" concept is unsuitable for calculating the social cost of GHGs other than carbon dioxide. The results are consistent with previous research on these matters. [Publishers' text].