Publisher Description

When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990 Finland was the first country to introduce a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO2 and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that inEurope taxes of more than 25 billion Euros a year have been shifted. This book examines carbon-energy taxation in detail and looks at tax shifting programmes for lowering othertaxes. It offers extensive analysis on the basis of historical data and seeks to answer important questions for policy-making, such as: What was the impact of tax shifting for economic performance and competitiveness? By how much were emissions of CO2 reduced? Could energy-intensive industries cut further down on their fuel demand or did they loose market shares? To what extent was there 'leakage' from Europe, so that production and CO2 emissions were shifted to other countries or regionswithout CO2-abatement policy? The use of unique and original data, including sector-specific energy prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co-integration analysisand panel-regression techniques along with the time-series estimated macro-economic model E3ME, make this a truly comprehensive volume. On the basis of the lessons learned in Europe, this volume indicates how carbon-energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and discusses implications for future international climate policy, including how the IPCC recommendations for a gradual escalation in carbon price could be accomplished while preventingcarbon leakage.

Author Biography

Mikael Skou Andersen is Professor in Policy Analysis at Denmark's National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Aarhus University. His PhD and Master's degrees were obtained from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Aarhus University, where he was previously also a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Head of the Policy Analysis section. He also holds a degree in Environmental Studies from the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He was amember of the Danish Minister of Taxation's Working Group on CO2 and since 2005 has been a member of the European Commission's High-level Network of Environmental Economists. He was a co-founder ofthe Centre for Social Science Research on the Environment (CESAM) 1992-2001, and has been scientific coordinator for several EU research projects, including COMETR. Paul Ekins has a PhD in economics from Birkbeck College, and a BSc in electrical engineering from Imperial College. He joined King's College London as Professor of Energy and Environment Policy in January 2008, having been Head of the Environment Group at the Policy Studies Institute and Professor of Sustainable Development at theUniversity of Westminster since 2002. He was a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 2002-2008 and, from 2003-2007, was on the UK Government's Sustainable Energy Policy AdvisoryBoard. He is a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, in charge of its Energy Systems and Modelling theme, and leads King's College's involvement in large research consortia on Bioenergy and Hydrogen. He is also Chairman of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP), the UK's most effective initiative at promoting resource efficiency in industry.

Table of Contents

PrefacePricing of Carbon in Europe1: Mikael Skou Andersen: Carbon-energy taxation, revenue recycling and competitiveness2: Stefan Speck and Jirina Jilkova: Design of Environmental Tax Reforms in EuropeIndustry Sector Competitiveness3: John Fitz Gerald, Mary Keeney and Sue Scott: Assessing Vulnerability of Selected Sectors under Environmental Tax Reform: the issue of pricing power4: Roger Salmons and Alexandra Miltner: Trends in the competitiveness of selected industrial sectors in ETR countries5: Martin Enevoldsen, Anders Ryelund and Mikael Skou Andersen: The impact of energy taxes on competitiveness: a panel regression study of 56 European industry sectors6: Mikael Skou Andersen and Stefan Speck: Energy-intensive industries: Approaches to mitigation and compensationCountry Competitiveness and Carbon Leakage7: Terry Barker, Sudhir Junankar, Hector Pollitt and Philip Summerton: The Effects of Environmental Tax Reform on International Competitiveness in the European Union: modelling with E3ME8: Terry Barker, Sudhir Junankar, Hector Pollitt and Philip Summerton: Carbon leakage from unilateral environmental tax reforms in Europe, 1995-2005Implications for Future Climate Policy9: Paul Ekins: Carbon Taxes and Emissions Trading: Issues and Interactions10: Mikael Skou Andersen and Paul Ekins: Conclusions - Europe's lessons from carbon-energy taxationAnnex- tables A.1 to A.23

Long Description

When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990 Finland was the first country to introduce a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO2 and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that in
Europe taxes of more than 25 billion Euros a year have been shifted. This book examines carbon-energy taxation in detail and looks at tax shifting programmes for lowering other taxes. It offers extensive analysis on the basis of historical data and seeks to answer important
questions for policy-making, such as: What was the impact of tax shifting for economic performance and competitiveness? By how much were emissions of CO2 reduced? Could energy-intensive industries cut further down on their fuel demand or did they loose market shares? To what extent was there 'leakage' from Europe, so that production and CO2 emissions were shifted to other countries or regions without CO2-abatement policy? The use of unique and original data, including sector-specific energy
prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co-integration analysis and panel-regression techniques along with the time-series estimated macro-economic model E3ME, make this a truly comprehensive volume. On the basis of the lessons learned in
Europe, this volume indicates how carbon-energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and discusses implications for future international climate policy, including how the IPCC recommendations for a gradual escalation in carbon price could be accomplished while preventing carbon leakage.

Feature

Highly topical and political subject that is evidence and data-based
Pan-European with analysis of many countries from Slovenia and Finland to the UK
Includes a full introduction to carbon and energy taxation and its implications
Major contribution to the debate on carbon-taxation

Details