scholarly journals The Political Economy of Carbon Pricing: Lessons from the Mexican Carbon Tax Experience for the Mexican Cap-and-Trade System

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-150
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Belausteguigoitia ◽  
Vidal Romero ◽  
Alberto Simpser
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
International Environmental Agreements ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
The Political ◽  
Carbon Taxes ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Carbon Pricing ◽  
Change Policy

AbstractPrice-based climate change policy instruments, such as carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, are known for their potential to generate desirable results such as reducing the cost of meeting environmental targets. Nonetheless, carbon pricing policies face important economic and political hurdles. Powerful stakeholders tend to obstruct such policies or dilute their impacts. Additionally, costs are borne by those who implement the policies or comply with them, while benefits accrue to all, creating incentives to free ride. Finally, costs must be paid in the present, while benefits only materialize over time. This chapter analyses the political economy of the introduction of a carbon tax in Mexico in 2013 with the objective of learning from that process in order to facilitate the eventual implementation of an effective cap-and-trade system in Mexico. Many of the lessons in Mexico are likely to be applicable elsewhere. As countries struggle to meet the goals of international environmental agreements, it is of utmost importance that we understand the conditions under which it is feasible to implement policies that reduce carbon emissions.

scholarly journals COMBINING MULTIPLE CLIMATE POLICY INSTRUMENTS: HOW NOT TO DO IT

2010 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAMUEL FANKHAUSER ◽  
CAMERON HEPBURN ◽  
JISUNG PARK
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Reserve Price ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Hybrid Instruments ◽  
Carbon Prices

Putting a price on carbon is critical for climate change policy. Increasingly, policymakers combine multiple policy tools to achieve this, for example by complementing cap-and-trade schemes with a carbon tax, or with a feed-in tariff. Often, the motivation for doing so is to limit undesirable fluctuations in the carbon price, either from rising too high or falling too low. This paper reviews the implications for the carbon price of combining cap-and-trade with other policy instruments. We find that price intervention may not always have the desired effect. Simply adding a carbon tax to an existing cap-and-trade system reduces the carbon price in the market to such an extent that the overall price signal (tax plus carbon price) may remain unchanged. Generous feed-in tariffs or renewable energy obligations within a capped area have the same effect: they undermine the carbon price in the rest of the trading regime, likely increasing costs without reducing emissions. Policymakers wishing to support carbon prices should turn to hybrid instruments — that is, trading schemes with price-like features, such as an auction reserve price — to make sure their objectives are met.

scholarly journals New Zealand’s energy future: a review of A Sustainable Energy Future for New Zealand by 2050 and Future Currents

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Chapman ◽  
Ken Piddington
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
World Markets ◽  
Term Energy ◽  
Level Of Concern ◽  
Energy Issues

Not for a few decades has there been a greater level of concern about New Zealand’s longer-term energy future, and the interplay between energy issues and climate change issues. In particular, energy issues continue to vex many New Zealanders, not least those facing the prospect of new electricity transmission pylons south of Auckland, energy users worried about supply shortages over the next winter, and vehicle drivers facing another oil price increase as crude oil in world markets hovers around US$70 per barrel. At the same time, concerns about climate change are intensifying, with some arguing that New Zealand government policy advisers and ministers have failed to grasp the magnitude of this issue. Currently, advisers are exploring new climate change policy instruments, following the government’s decision to drop the carbon tax which had been scheduled for introduction in April 2007.  

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Prevention

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Gough
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Environmental

Prevention in public policy is much discussed but rarely theorized. This article begins with a theoretical framework for reflecting on the political economy of prevention in advanced capitalist economies that integrates the analysis of preventive policies across the social, environmental and economic domains. The next two sections survey prevention initiatives in social policy and climate change policy, respectively. These mainly focus on the last three decades and are based mainly on UK evidence. The article then considers the relative absence of prevention in contemporary economic policy and management: today's neo-liberal economic and political order powerfully constrains preventive public policy. The final section outlines an alternative social political economy that prioritizes preventive and precautionary policy making.

The Political Economy of Carbon Tax: International Practice and the Australian Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350007
Author(s):  
Alex LO
Keyword(s):  
Policy Design ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Emission Trading ◽  
The Political ◽  
Carbon Taxes ◽  
Carbon Pricing ◽  
Fixed Price ◽  
Emissions Mitigation ◽  
Pricing System ◽  
Trading Scheme

Carbon taxes create incentives for controlling greenhouse gases by putting a price on these emissions. In theory major carbon emitters would pay more under an effective carbon tax. In practice political considerations often dominate and consequently compromise effectiveness in emissions mitigation. Australia's carbon pricing mechanism is a recent example. It involves the use of a fixed-price instrument that resembles a carbon tax and will eventually turn into an emission trading scheme and enable price fluctuation. The policy design is however questionable for overcompensating big polluters and legitimizing the failure to curb emissions domestically. This paper offers a review of the development of carbon tax policies in various national contexts with a focus on Australia. Lessons from the international practices could provide a useful reference for China to advance its timely commitment to establishing a carbon pricing system.

As an emerging economy, should Malaysia adopt carbon taxation?

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kum Yeen Wong ◽  
Joon Huang Chuah ◽  
Chris Hope
Keyword(s):  
Driving Forces ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Emerging Economy ◽  
National Budget ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Right

On 1 July 2014, the Australian Government announced the abolition of its new carbon tax policy barely two years into implementation. The Australia’s policy U-turn raises a very important question: Should an emerging economy such as Malaysia adopt carbon and climate change policy as part of a larger tax reform? In order to answer this, the key issues, main driving forces and barriers in the use of carbon tax as an incentive-based instrument for economic and environmental policies purposes are examined. With the recent global climate challenges and the fiscal needs of the national budget, it is submitted that the implementation of a carbon tax framework in Malaysia should be regarded not as an ultimate goal in itself but as a starting point to develop the right behavioural response for a better and more comprehensive national fiscal and climate policy reform in the future.

Communicating about Carbon Taxes and Emissions Trading Programs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick Lachapelle
Keyword(s):  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Carbon Taxes ◽  
Cap And Trade ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Trading Program

In debates surrounding policy options for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, economists of various political stripes are near unanimous in their advocacy of putting a price on carbon, whether through a tax or emissions trading program. Due to the visible costs imposed on industry and consumers, however, these policies have been resisted by carbon-intensive industries and by an ideologically divided public, producing incentives for vote-seeking politicians to avoid implementing comprehensive and stringent carbon prices within their own borders. In this highly politicized environment, and considering the more recent diffusion of market-based instruments across political jurisdictions around the world, researchers have sought to identify the conditions most favorable to implementing carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs, the correlates of public support for these policies, and the extent to which different communication strategies may help build public support. How do experts, political leaders, and members of the public understand these policy instruments, and what specific approaches have been most successful in persuading policy makers and the public to support a price on carbon? In places that have yet to implement a carbon price, what can communication strategists learn from existing research and the experience of other jurisdictions where such policies have been successfully implemented? In places where carbon taxes or carbon cap-and-trade programs exist, how are the benefits of these policies best communicated to ensure the durability of carbon pricing policies over time?

Communicating about Climate Change with Policymakers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishani Mukherjee ◽  
Michael Howlett
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Policy Advisory Systems ◽  
Advisory Systems ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Policy Problems

Policy communication and the resulting influence that information has on policy decision-makers is an especially pertinent topic when it comes to problems of climate change. Notorious for its complexity, uncertainty, and divergence of viewpoints, climate change has earned the title of being the major “wicked” or “super-wicked” problem of our times. A proliferation of expertise, interests, and capacities mark the climate change policymaking landscape and this density of players warrants an advanced framework to understand the ways in which the variety of climate-pertinent knowledge is communicated to policymakers. Moving beyond undifferentiated “two-communities” models of knowledge utilization in policymaking which limit the discussion to the bilateral interactions between knowledge experts or “producers” and information “consumers” of the public sector, this article explores the concept of a policy advisory system, which embodies the different sets of influence that various policy actors can have during policy decision-making and how communication between and among actors is a significant aspect of climate change policymaking. The concept of policy advisory systems is an important new development in the policy studies literature and one that is analytically very applicable to climate policy contexts. Suitably generalizable across representative policy settings, policy advisory systems are comprised of distinct groups of actors who are engaged in the definition of policy problems, the articulation of policy solutions, or the matching of policy problems to solutions. We explore how individual members of these separate sets of actors—namely the epistemic community, which is occupied in discourses about policy problems; the instrument constituencies which define policy instruments; and the advocacy coalitions which compete to have their choice of policy alternatives adopted—interact and communicate with policymakers across climate change policy activities.

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