Estimates of climate change’s economic impacts vary widely, depending on the applied methodology. This uncertainty is a barrier for policymakers seeking to quantify the benefits of mitigation. In this Perspective, we provide a comprehensive overview and categorization of the pathways and methods translating biophysical impacts into economic damages. We highlight the open question of the persistence of impacts as well as key methodological gaps, in particular the effect of including inequality and adaptation in the assessments. We discuss the need for intensifying interdisciplinary research, focusing on the uncertainty of econometric estimates of damages as well as identification of the most socioeconomically relevant types of impact. A structured model intercomparison related to economic impacts is noted as a crucial next step.

对气候变化的经济影响的估计差异很大，这取决于所采用的方法。这种不确定性是政策制定者寻求量化缓解收益的障碍。在这个视角中，我们对将生物物理影响转化为经济损失的途径和方法进行了全面概述和分类。我们强调影响持续存在的悬而未决的问题以及关键的方法差距，特别是在评估中包括不平等和适应的影响。我们讨论了加强跨学科研究的必要性，重点关注经济计量损失估计的不确定性以及识别与社会经济最相关的影响类型。与经济影响相关的结构化模型比对被认为是关键的下一步。