Assessing criticisms of carbon pricing
van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Botzen, W. J. Wouter (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken)

Date:	2024
Description:	70 pàg.
Abstract:	There is still considerable resistance against carbon pricing - i. e. carbon taxation or cap-and-trade - in the social and policy sciences. We review its main arguments and conclude that they are not supported by the theoretical and empirical literature on instrument performance. Critics are also unable to offer alternative and feasible instruments that limit free riding in climate solutions and perform better on main evaluation criteria, namely effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and global-harmonization potential. Their argument that carbon pricing meets strong political resistance is countered by its widespread implementation already and by its ability to compensate inequitable impacts. We argue that overcoming unsubstantiated criticism on carbon pricing will lead to more consistent advice from policy experts to politicians, thus improving the feasibility of, and accelerating progress towards, globally harmonized and stringent climate policy. All in all, it might be more widely acknowledged that the remarkable feature of carbon pricing is that, if well implemented, it has a great number of advantages and few disadvantages. Rather than weakening political support by criticizing carbon pricing, critics would contribute more productively to effective global climate policy by defending proper and uniform implementation of it.
Grants:	European Commission 101056891 European Commission 101097924 European Commission 741087
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Climate policy ; Carbon pricing ; Equity ; Rebound ; Free riding ; Harmonization ; Feasibility ; Support
Published in:	International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 18, issue 3 (2024), p. 315-384, ISSN 1932-1473

DOI: 10.1561/101.00000172

70 p, 1.1 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Environmental and Climate Economics (ECE)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles