Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) A Policy for Green Growth

by Ekins, Paul; Speck, Stefan

• ISBN13: 9780199584505
• ISBN10: 0199584508
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-26
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 issome 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 economicand 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 policyin 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.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. xvii
list of Tables	p. xx
Abbreviations	p. xxiii
Notes on Contributors	p. xxviii
The Need and Rationale for Environmental Tax Reform
Introduction to the Issues and the Book	p. 3
European Resource Use and Resource Productivity in a Global Context	p. 27
Energy Consumption and C02 Emissions in the German and British Industrial Sectors	p. 46
Is Environmental Tax Reform an Appropriate Policy for Industrial Sectors with Different Energy Intensities? An Analysis of UK Industrial Sectors	p. 84
Experiences in Environmental Tax Reform
Environmental Taxes and ETRs in Europe: The Current Situation and a Review of the Modelling Literature	p. 99
Introducing Environmental Tax Reform: The Case of the Czech Republic	p. 131
The Effect of the German and UK Environmental Tax Reforms on the Demand for Labour and Energy	p. 148
A European ETR For Growth and Sustainability
Models for Projecting the Impacts of ETR	p. 175
Modelling an ETR for Europe	p. 204
Implications of ETR in Europe for Household Distribution	p. 236
Global Economic and Environmental Impacts of an ETR in Europe	p. 291
ETR and the Environmental Industry	p. 313
Conclusions
ETR for Green Growth: Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations	p. 343
Index	p. 363
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