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Environmental Tax Reform (ETR)

Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) A Policy for Green Growth

Author: Paul Ekins; Stefan Speck
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199584505
Published In: April 2011
Format: Hardback , 416 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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In-depth presentation of a policy that improves the environment at no or low economic cost
Explains the implications of an EU wide environmental tax reform (ETR) on energy/ carbon taxation
Highlights the positive impact of ETR on eco-innovation and how it will help to stimulate the development of new environmental industries
Uses German case studies to show how the reform can be implemented across Europe
Illustrates how tax reform can help Europe meets its targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Many people have serious concerns about the environment and wonder whether solving environmental problems is compatible with continuing economic growth. This book provides an in-depth exploration of a proposed reform to the national tax system, whereby the burden of taxes is shifted from conventional taxes, such as those levied on labour and capital, to taxes on environmentally related activities, that involve resource use, particularly energy, or environmental pollution. There is some experience of such 'environmental tax reform' (ETR) in Europe, and the book briefly reviews this before considering how a more ambitious ETR in Europe could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and material flows through the economy, while stimulating innovation and investment in the key 'clean and green' sectors of the economy which seem likely to play an increasing part in the creation of prosperity in Europe and elsewhere in the future.

Case studies of renewable energy, construction, fuel-efficient vehicles, and waste management in Germany show how these fast-growing sectors are making an increasing contribution to employment, output, and exports in the German economy, while improving the environment. The book explores the implications of introducing it on a much wider scale throughout the European Union. A unique modelling exercise, using two macroeconomic models, delivers varied and complementary insights into the economic and environmental results of a large-scale ETR in Europe, and its effects on and implications for the rest of the world. The modelling suggests that such a policy has a key role in the achievement of Europe's targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and, if implemented with cooperative policy in other countries, could significantly reduce global emissions.

The book is essential and hopeful reading for anyone who has wondered how, with today's intensifying environmental challenges, economic growth could become more environmentally sustainable.

Readership: Academics and researchers interested in environmental policy and climate change. Policy makers, NGOs, think tanks, and businesses engaged in tax policy. Individuals who are concerned about the impact of the economy on the environment.

The Need and Rationale for Environmental Tax Reform
1: Paul Ekins: Introduction to the Issues and the Book
2: Stefan Giljum, Christian Lutz, Ariane Jungnitz, Martin Bruckner, Friedrich Hinterberger: European Resource Use and Resource Productivity in a Global Context
3: Paolo Agnolucci: Energy Consumption and CO² Emissions in the German and British Industrial Sectors
4: Paolo Agnolucci: Is Environmental Tax Reform an Appropriate Policy for Industrial Sectors with Different Energy Intensities? An Analysis of UK Sub-Sectors
Experiences in Environmental Tax Reform
5: Stefan Speck, Philip Summerton, Daniel Lee, Kirsten Wiebe: Environmental Taxes and ETRs in Europe: The Current Situation and a Review of the Modelling Literature
6: Petr Sauer, Ondrej Vojácek, Jaroslav Klusák, Jarmila Zimmermannová: Introducing Environmental Tax Reform: the Case of the Czech Republic
7: Paolo Agnolucci: The Effect of the German and UK Environmental Tax Reforms on the Demand for Labour and Energy
A European ETR for Growth and Sustainability
8: Terry Barker, Christian Lutz, Bernd Meyer, and Hector Pollitt: Models for Projecting an ETR
9: Terry Barker, Christian Lutz, Bernd Meyer, Hector Pollitt, and Stefan Speck: Modelling an ETR for Europe
10: Daniel Blobel, Holger Gerdes, Hector Pollitt, Jennifer Barton, Thomas Drosdowski, Christian Lutz, Marc Ingo Wolter and Paul Ekins: Implications of ETR in Europe for Household Distribution
11: Stefan Giljum, Christian Lutz, Christine Polzin: Global Economic and Environmental Impacts of an ETR in Europe
12: Martin Jänicke and Roland Zieschank: ETR and the Environment Industry
Conclusions
13: Paul Ekins and Stefan Speck: ETR for Green Growth: Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Edited by Paul Ekins, Professor of Energy and Environment Policy, UCL Energy Institute, University College London, and Stefan Speck, Project Manager, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen

Paul Ekins holds a PhD in economics from the University of London and is Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre. He has extensive experience consulting for business, government, and international organisations. In 1994 he received a Global 500 Award 'for outstanding environmental achievement' from the United Nations Environment Programme. His academic work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy, and he is an authority on a number of areas of energy-environment-economy interaction and environmental policy. He is the author of numerous papers, book chapters, and articles in a wide range of journals, and has written or edited ten books.

Stefan Speck holds a PhD in economics. He has worked as Senior Consultant at Kommunalkredit Public Consulting in Vienna, as a senior project scientist at the National Environmental Research Institute, University of Aarhus, and as a project manager at the Regional Environmental Center in Budapest. His research focuses on the application of market based instruments for environmental policy, environmental fiscal reform, and environmental financing. He has implemented projects for a range of clients including the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA), European Commission (DG Environment), European Environment Agency (EEA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and the Department for International Development (DFID), England. He has carried out research projects in Africa and Asia, and has published widely on economic instruments and environmental financing.

Contributors:
Paolo Agnolucci, Birkbeck College, University of London
Terry Barker, University of Cambridge
Jennifer Barton, Cambridge Econometrics (CE)
Daniel Blobel, Ecologic Institute, Berlin
Martin Bruckner, Vienna University of Technology
Thomas Drosdowski, Institute for Economic Structures Research, Osnabrück
Paul Ekins, UCL Energy Institute, University College London
Holger Gerdes, Ecologic Institute, Berlin
Stefan Giljum, Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI)
Friedrich Hinterberger, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Martin Jänicke, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Ariane Jungnitz, HKM, Duisburg
Jaroslav Klusák, University of Economics, Prague
Daniel Lee, Cambridge Econometrics (CE)
Christian Lutz, GWS, Institute for Economic Structures Research, Osnabrück
Bernd Meyer, University of Osnabrück
Hector Pollitt, Cambridge Econometrics (CE)
Christine Polzin, Sustainable Resource Use
Petr Sauer, University of Economics, Prague
Stefan Speck, Kommunalkredit Public Consulting, Austria
Philip Summerton, Cambridge Econometrics (CE)
Ondrej Vojacek, University of Economics, Prague
Kirsten Wiebe, Institute for Economic Structures Research, Osnabrück
Marc Ingo Wolter,
Roland Zieschank, Freie Universität Berlin
Jarmila Zimmermannova, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Department of Sustainable Energy and Transportation