Fiscal measures in the form of taxes, charges, subsidies, incentives and budget allocations can help generate revenue for environmental and social purposes, shift behaviour towards low-carbon activities and stimulate green investment by pricing environmental externalities. The key to successful implementation and political acceptance of fiscal instruments hinges on effective complementary measures, in particular, addressing distributional impacts.
As part of the Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), the GGKP hosted a policy session with the aim of stimulating a debate amongst the policy and academic communities, and jointly discussing the efficacy, geographical applicability and policy implications of various fiscal instruments in the transition to a green economy. This session took place 25 June from 4:15-6:15pm in Aud XIV at the University of Helsinki.
In order to mobilise the transition to a green economy, it is crucial that policymakers and practitioners have cutting-edge knowledge at their disposal. The GGKP was establish with the belief that knowledge leads to lasting impact and that investing in its generation and dissemination produces concrete results. Founded by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank, the GGKP has expanded to a global partnership of over 35 leading international organizations, research institutes, and think tanks, working to identify and address major knowledge gasp in green growth theory and practice through collaboration and coordinated research.
This session drew on research recently published through the GGKP assessing the state of knowledge and identifying key knowledge gaps in our understanding of the role of fiscal policy in the green economy transition. Initial discussions and debate around this research was held as part of the GGKP’s Third Annual Conference (hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme, Ca’Foscari University of Venice and The Energy and Resources Institute in January 2015). Carrying forward these efforts, this session drew together leading policy experts to present research highlights, examine key knowledge gaps identified and promote innovative thinking around how we can catalyse further applied research. The session was moderated by Carlo Carraro (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) and involved two presentations of recent research results (Gilbert Metcalf and Sirini Withana), followed by discussant interventions (Jintao Xu and Nils Axel Braathen) and an open discussion amongst the panelists and audience.
More information EAERE 2015 can be found here.
Speakers
Carlo Carraro (Moderator)
Professor, Ca’Foscari University of Venice, Italy; Vice-Chair, IPCC WG III; Director, International Center for Climate Governance
Professor Carlo Carraro is Professor of Environmental Economics and Econometrics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has been President of the University of Venice from 2009 to 2014 and Director of the Department of Economics from 2005 to 2008. In 2008, he has been elected Vice-Chair of the Working Group III and Member of the Bureau of the Nobel Laureate Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is Director of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Programme of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, and Director of the International Centre for Climate Governance. He is a member of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform Advisory Committee and of the Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme. He is a Research Fellow of the CEPR (Center for Economic Policy Research), and of the CESifo (Center of Economic Studies), and Associate Research Fellow, CEPS (Center of Economic Policy Studies ). He belongs to the Executive Board of the Euro Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change.
Gilbert E. Metcalf
Professor of Economics, Tufts University
Gilbert E. Metcalf is a Professor of Economics at Tufts University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Metcalf has taught at Princeton University, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and MIT. He has frequently testified before Congress and recently served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that role, he served as the first U.S. board member of the Green Climate Fund. Metcalf is an internationally recognized expert on climate policy with a particular focus on carbon taxes. He has published numerous papers in peer reviewed academic journals, has edited or co-authored four books, and has contributed chapters to a number of books on climate, energy, and tax policy. Metcalf received a B.A. in Mathematics from Amherst College, an M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
Sirini Withana
Senior Policy Analyst, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
Sirini Withana is currently leading IEEP’s work on green fiscal reform (GFR) together with Patrick ten Brink. She has managed a number of IEEP’s studies in this area including a study for the Dutch government on future opportunities for environmental tax reform in Europe, for the Swiss Government on evaluating international experiences in environmental tax reform and for the European Commission on reforming environmentally harmful subsidies. She has also delivered a number of presentations at national and international conferences on GFR and contributed to several publications and reports on this topic including a number of chapters in a recently published book Paying the Polluter - Environmentally Harmful Subsidies and their Reform, Oosterhuis and ten Brink (eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014. Before joining IEEP, Sirini worked at the Environment Agency for England and Wales. She holds an MSc in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor of Business Science degree with Honours in Economics from the University of Cape Town.
Jintao Xu
Director, China Center for Energy and Development, National School of Development, Peking University
Jintao Xu is Director of China Center for Energy and Development at the National School of Development, Peking University. He is a professor of natural resource economics at the National School of Development and the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University. Before joining Peking University in 2006 he worked as Deputy Director and professor at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences for six years. In 2000 and 2004 he led studies in the socio-economic impacts of China’s ecological programs (i.e. the Sloping Land Conversion Program and Natural Forest Protection Programs). Currently his research focuses on surveys and analyses of forest tenure and regulatory reform in rural China, as well as energy and development issues of China. His papers have been published in journals such as World Development, Land Economics, Ecological Economics, Environmental and Development Economics, and International Forestry Review.
Nils Axel Braathen
Principal Administrator, Environmental Performance and Information Division of OECD’s Environment Directorate
Nils Axel Braathen is a Principal Administrator in the Environmental Performance and Information Division of OECD’s Environment Directorate. He has been with the OECD since 1996, working inter alia on a database on instruments used for environmental policy, on estimating effective carbon prices in selected countries, on cost-benefit analyses, on economic valuation of environmental externalities, on macroeconomic modelling, on the economics of waste and on environmental impacts of transport and agriculture. Prior to joining the OECD he was Deputy Director General in the Department for Long-term Planning and Policy Analysis in the Ministry of Finance, Norway. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Oslo, Norway.