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 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.

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.

scholarly journals CARBON TAX: PROGRESS OR PLATITUDE FOR SOUTH AFRICA?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele N Dempster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Carbon Taxation ◽  
Petroleum Sector ◽  
Combat Climate Change

In light of the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen climate change conference, South Africa announced that in order to combat climate change it would commit to reducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 42 per cent by 2025. Due to this commitment, a carbon tax will be implemented as from 1 January 2015. This market-based instrument has received broad attention sparking debate as industries most affected, namely Eskom and the petroleum sector, have rallied together in complaint. The main debate being that despite the politically ambitious commitment to reduce GHG emissions, little scientific, economic or comparative evidence has been given to show that an influence will actually be had on the amount of GHG emitted. The purpose of this article is not to provide a detailed analysis of the entire scope of the South African climate change policy. It focuses on the more limited issue of carbon taxation. This does not however mean that the numerous other competing policy options, which still beg for attention, are not viable or will not be implemented in the future.

scholarly journals Subnational Bipartisanship on Climate Change: Evidence from Surveys of Local and State Policymakers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Lee ◽  
Dominik Stecula
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The U.S

While the U.S. Congress has repeatedly failed to pass national legislation to address climate change over the years, there has been much more progress among state and local governments. But is this progress on climate change policy at the subnational level merely a reflection of the dominance of the Democratic party in certain regions of the country, or does it reflect successful bipartisan action? In this essay, we present novel evidence from two surveys of subnational policymakers, conducted in 2015 and 2017, to demonstrate that there is widespread bipartisan agreement among Republican and Democrat policymakers at the subnational level about (1) the existence of global warming and (2) what to do about it. Specifically, a majority in both parties believe global warming is happening and support the use of renewable energy mandates—rather than cap-and-trade, carbon tax, or emissions standards—to address the problem.

scholarly journals Cosmopolitanism, climate change, and greenhouse emissions trading

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Page
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Greenhouse Emissions ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Dangerous Climate Change ◽  
Successive Generations ◽  
The Right

This article examines the question of whether international markets in allowances conferring the right to emit greenhouse gases are consistent with a cosmopolitan approach to global and intergenerational justice. After placing emissions trading within the context of both climate change policy and cosmopolitan political theory, three normative objections are examined to the use of emissions trading to mitigate the threat of dangerous climate change. Each objection arises from a different application of cosmopolitan thinking: (i) the potentially corrosive impact of greater use of emissions allowances markets on the environmental values of successive generations of atmospheric users; (ii) the awkward relationship between emissions markets and the norms of procedural justice endorsed by all prominent cosmopolitans; and (iii) the injustice expressed by policy instruments that commodify the atmosphere. It is argued that, while each objection should prompt some care in the construction and implementation of emissions trading schemes to guarantee their legitimacy among existing and future users of the atmosphere, they do not generate a decisive normative challenge to the use of markets, properly defined and regulated, to slow global warming.

scholarly journals Climate Change Policy:

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Anil Patel ◽  
Olivia June Bloodworth ◽  
Vishal Ashok Kumar Unnadkat ◽  
Seetal Assi ◽  
Ashni Asit Badiani
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Revenue Recycling ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

With the UK leaving the EU in 2020, its policies to combat climate change currently remain undecided. One policy discussed in this report is a carbon tax. This report finds that implementation of a carbon tax will require a favourable political climate, public attention and an appropriate cost, with a starting price of £40 per tonne of CO2 emitted, gradually rising to £100-125/tCO2 (1). Also, to be politically acceptable, there must also be ‘revenue recycling’, with some of the proceeds of the carbon tax being redirected to public services (2,3).

A Province under Pressure: Climate Change Policy in Alberta

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-199
Author(s):  
Brendan Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Economic Competitiveness ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Reduce Emissions

AbstractAlberta is responsible for over a third of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing the country's emissions requires policies and initiatives that reduce emissions in the province. Yet the study of provincial climate change policy in Canada has largely focused on lower-emitting provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. This article argues that Alberta is best understood as a “reluctant actor” on climate change, whose policies are influenced by decisions and pressures from outside its borders. The literature on Canadian-American environmental policy making and international policy transfer are used to explore provincial GHG targets and carbon pricing policies. The article finds that Alberta's 2002 targets and Specified Gas Emitters Regulation were determined by economic competitiveness and leakage concerns, while the adoption of new GHG targets in 2008 and a carbon tax was the result of policy transfer through political bandwagoning and the desire for reputational benefits.

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