Read the article at https://nyti.ms/2jKdgKK and answer the following questions. 

1. Which businesses are approaching the challenge of addressing climate change as a benefit to their economic bottom line, and which businesses treat it as a loss? Explain the reason for this disparity. 

2. The article says, "The bottom line is that the policies will increase the cost of carbon and electricity," said Roger Bezdek, an economist who produced a report for the coal lobby that was released this week. "Even the most conservative estimates peg the social benefit of carbon-based fuels as 50 times greater than its supposed social cost." 

Discuss the possible role that discounting may play in this conclusion. To help you in answering this question, read about the Stern-Nordhaus debate in Box 4.2.

Box 4.2:

 

BOX 4.2 Stern-Nordhaus Debate about Discounting Climate Change A famous debate took place between two well-known economists, Lord Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics and Professor William Nordhaus of Yale University, about the actions that society should take to tackle climate change. Lord Stern, in his Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, prepared for the UK government, argued in favor of government action in the form of an environmental tax. However, Professor Nordhaus, with the help of his integrated assessment model, argued against immediate action. Both economists used cost-benefit analysis, which we learned about in Section 4.3. They reached