Optimization of a non-linear dynamical system for global climate change

We regard the global climate system as a controlled dynamic system, with controls corresponding to economic activities causing emissions of greenhouse gases. Previous optimization studies for climate change have used descriptions of the environmental system which are found to be too unrepresentative of what is known in the scientific community, In this paper an approach is applied which tries to include a more sophisticated model of the environmental system. The resulting continuous dynamic control problem is solved by the application of a set of non-linear optimization techniques to find optimal response strategies to maximize the discounted sum of future consumption while adhering to certain environmental constraints. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.