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 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.

Policy entrepreneurs in national climate change policy processes

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 1456-1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inken Reimer ◽  
Barbara Saerbeck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Combat Climate Change

The multi-level and multi-actor character of the international climate governance regime, as well as the imminent need for action to combat climate change, stimulates the introduction of new and innovative cross-sectoral policy proposals by policy entrepreneurs. To date, academic literature has extensively studied and discussed the importance of policy entrepreneurs for agenda-setting. The role of policy entrepreneurs in providing continuous support for a new climate policy resulting in its implementation, has on the other hand, so far received only little attention. Taking the Norwegian Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation commitment as an exemplary case, this paper explores the potential of entrepreneurial engagement throughout a country’s climate policy-making process. It aims to demonstrate the importance of policy entrepreneurs beyond agenda-setting, namely for the policy formulation phase in which responsibilities for the implementation are designated to governmental bodies. We refer to this step as institutional anchoring. Following an explorative approach, this paper shows that different types of actors – non-governmental organisations and governmental actors – act as policy entrepreneurs. It demonstrates the roles and importance of policy entrepreneurs for not only gaining, but also maintaining attention on a new policy by means of coalition building and framing.

Informing Climate Change Policy Through Economics and Engineering Perspectives on Energy Efficiency

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Sreedharan ◽  
Alan H. Sanstad ◽  
Joe Bryson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
State And Local ◽  
End Use

Energy “sustainability” and energy supply have again emerged as central public policy issues and are at the intersection of the economic, environmental, and security challenges facing the nation and the world. The goal of significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy production and consumption, while maintaining affordable and reliable energy supplies, is one of the most important issues. Among the strategies for achieving this goal, increasing the efficiency of energy consumption in buildings is being emphasized to a degree not seen since the 1970s. “End-use” efficiency is the core of the State of California’s landmark effort to reduce its GHG emissions, of other state and local climate-change initiatives, and is emphasized in emerging federal GHG abatement legislation. Both economic and engineering methods are used to analyze energy efficiency, but the two paradigms provide different perspectives on the market and technological factors that affect the diffusion of energy efficiency. These disparate perspectives influence what is considered the appropriate role and design of public policy for leveraging not just efficient end-use technology, but other sustainable energy technologies. We review the two approaches and their current roles in the GHG policy process by describing, for illustrative purposes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of energy efficiency in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Discussion Draft. We highlight opportunities and needs for improved coordination between the engineering, economic and policy communities. Our view is that a better understanding of disciplinary differences and complementarities in perspectives and analytical methods between these communities will benefit the climate change policy process.

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.

Brazilian Climate Change Law

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Alvarenga Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Change Policy

This chapter examines the climate change policy of Brazil. In 2010 at the Sixteenth Conference of Parties in Cancún, Brazil announced its voluntary national target of significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 36.1 per cent and 38.9 per cent of projected emissions by 2020. These targets were defined in the Brazilian National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC). The PNMC establishes principles, guidelines, and economic instruments for reaching the national voluntary targets. It relies on sectoral plans for mitigation and adaptation to climate change in order to facilitate the move towards a low-carbon economy. The PNMC defined various aspects related to the measurement of goals, formulation of sectoral plans and of action plans for the prevention and control of deforestation in all Brazilian biomes, and governance structure.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Energy Taxes to Climate Change Policy in the European Union (EU)

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genovaitė Liobikienė ◽  
Mindaugas Butkus ◽  
Kristina Matuzevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Renewable Energy Consumption ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Energy Taxes

Energy taxes are one of the main market-based tools directed toward mitigating climate change in the European Union (EU). Therefore, the aim of this article was to analyze whether energy taxes really contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the successful implementation of climate change policy. Applying the Granger causality test on time series and using panel data analysis, the direct and indirect (via the reduction of fossil energy consumption (FEC) and energy intensity (EI), as well as the increase of renewable energy consumption (REN)) impacts of energy taxes on GHG emissions in EU countries were analyzed in the present study. The results showed that energy taxes did not Granger-cause fossil energy consumption, energy intensity, renewable energy consumption, and GHG emissions in almost all EU countries. Regarding the panel data analysis, the results showed that energy taxes did not, directly and indirectly, influence GHG emissions. Therefore, this paper shows that generally, energy tax policy in EU countries is ineffective. Thus, tax policy should be reformed and matched with an emissions trading system in seeking climate change mitigation.

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 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.  

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