Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation is an internationally refereed publication devoted to environmental taxation issues on a worldwide basis. It seeks to provide insights and analysis for achieving environmental goals through tax policy. By sharing the perspectives of the authors in response to the diverse challenges posed by environmental taxation issues, effective approaches used in one country may be considered and possibly implemented by governmental authorities in other countries. Each volume contains pioneering and thought-provoking articles contributed by the world's leading environmental tax scholars. This seventh volume focuses on the special problems of the urban environment and the challenges which confront cities and mega-cities. It examines tax issues relating to congestion and pollution control, road pricing and other forms of transportation management, housing and the construction industry, energy generation and consumption, trade, carbon taxes and new eco-service markets, research and development taxes. It contains case studies from developed as well as developing countries. Contributors come from various disciplines, particularly law, accounting and economics. The countries examined include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain, Uganda, and the United States.

Analysing the interactions between institutions in the climate change and energy nexus, including the consequences for their legitimacy and effectiveness. Prominent researchers from political science and international relations compare three policy domains: renewable energy, fossil fuel subsidy reform, and carbon pricing. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Why the traditional “pledge and review” climate agreements have failed, and how carbon pricing, based on trust and reciprocity, could succeed. After twenty-five years of failure, climate negotiations continue to use a “pledge and review” approach: countries pledge (almost anything), subject to (unenforced) review. This approach ignores everything we know about human cooperation. In this book, leading economists describe an alternate model for climate agreements, drawing on the work of the late Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom and others. They show that a “common commitment” scheme is more effective than an “individual commitment” scheme; the latter depends on altruism while the former involves reciprocity (“we will if you will”). The contributors propose that global carbon pricing is the best candidate for a reciprocal common commitment in climate negotiations. Each country would commit to placing charges on carbon emissions sufficient to match an agreed global price formula. The contributors show that carbon pricing would facilitate negotiations and enforcement, improve efficiency and flexibility, and make other climate policies more effective. Additionally, they analyze the failings of the 2015 Paris climate conference. Contributors Richard N. Cooper, Peter Cramton, Ottmar Edenhofer, Christian Gollier, Éloi Laurent, David JC MacKay, William Nordhaus, Axel Ockenfels, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Steven Stoft, Jean Tirole, Martin L. Weitzman

ïThe scope, depth and persistence with which this book explores carbon pricing is admirable, reflecting that despite political reluctance it is a topic in all parts of the world.Í _ Mikael Skou Andersen, Aarhus University, Denmark and European Environment Agency ïEnvironmental taxation and emissions trading continue to be high on the public policy agenda in many countries, and this is another welcome and very interesting volume in the Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation series that presents new ideas and evidence on these subjects from a wide range of countries and a variety of perspectives.Í _ Paul Ekins, University College London, UK This original and timely volume provides unique insights and analysis on the pressing question of how to achieve environmental sustainability while fostering economic growth. The emphasis of the book lies in finding critical solutions to global climate change including chapters on environmental fiscal reform and unemployment in Spain, EU structural and cohesion policy and sustainable development, ecological tax reform in Europe and Asia, AustraliaÍs carbon pricing mechanism, and many other timely topics. This insightful volume will appeal to policy makers in government as well as academics and students in environmental law, environmental economics and environmental sustainability.

Addressing the poverty and distributional impacts of carbon pricing reforms is critical for the success of ambitious actions in the fight against climate change. This paper uses a simple framework to systematically review the channels through which carbon pricing can potentially affect poverty and inequality. It finds that the channels differ in important ways along several dimensions. The paper also identifies several key gaps in the current literature and discusses some considerations on how policy designs could take into account the attributes of the channels in mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing reforms on households.

This book shows why a carbon tax is the most efficient and fair way to address the major cause of climate change. It explains how a carbon tax reform can help low-income households. And it argues that carbon tax is market based policy that should be supported across the political spectrum.

How economic analysis can help us design economic policies to address the looming challenges of global warming As scientific and observational evidence on global warming piles up every day, questions of economic policy in this central environmental topic have taken center stage. But as author and prominent Yale economist William Nordhaus observes, the issues involved in understanding global warming and slowing its harmful effects are complex and cross disciplinary boundaries. For example, ecologists see global warming as a threat to ecosystems, utilities as a debit to their balance sheets, and farmers as a hazard to their livelihoods. In this important work, William Nordhaus integrates the entire spectrum of economic and scientific research to weigh the costs of reducing emissions against the benefits of reducing the long-run damages from global warming. The book offers one of the most extensive analyses of the economic and environmental dynamics of greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change and provides the tools to evaluate alternative approaches to slowing global warming. The author emphasizes the need to establish effective mechanisms, such as carbon taxes, to harness markets and harmonize the efforts of different countries. This book not only will shape discussion of one the world's most pressing problems but will provide the rationales and methods for achieving widespread agreement on our next best move in alleviating global warming.