The greenhouse effect and its impacts on environment

The buildup of so-called «greenhouse gases» in the atmosphere - CO2 in particular-appears to be having an adverse impact on the global climate. This article briefly reviews current expectations with regard to physical and biological effects, their potential costs to society, and likely costs of abatement. For a «worst case» scenario it is impossible to assess, in economic terms, the full range of possible non-linear synergistic effects. In the «most favorable» case, however, it seems likely that the impacts are within the «affordable» range, at least in the industrialized countries of the world. In the «third world» the notion of affordability is of doubtful relevance, making the problem of quantitative evaluation almost impossible.