Having mapped the global spread of carbon pricing schemes since 2013 in the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing report that Ecofys writes annually with the World Bank, we find the proverbial glass remains both half-full and half-empty: unarguably, a carbon pricing wave is going on, but it has not yet resulted in a low carbon tsunami.
The Advantage of International Cooperation in Achieving Regional Mitigation Goals in the Americas
The Americas are well-positioned to lead the world on carbon pricing, with carbon taxes or emission trading already being implemented in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, California, the nine states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Washington, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. Carbon pricing is under discussion in additional countries, states, and provinces.
Carbon Pricing Conversation at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
The Ripple Effect of California Cap and Trade
Mapping out a low-carbon future
Model-driven energy scenarios provide policymakers and investors with a powerful decision-support tool but should not be used as a decision-making tool due to several limitations. So argues a new study in the journal Energy and Environment by Sergey Paltsev, deputy director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and a senior research scientist for both the Joint Program and the MIT Energy Initiative. The study shows that overall, energy scenarios are useful for assessing policymaking and investment risks associated with different emissions reduction pathways, but tend to overestimate the degree to which future energy demand will resemble the past.
Message from Davos: Carbon pricing is back
On the eve of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, CDP announced the Carbon Pricing Corridor initiative, the world’s first industry-led initiative aimed at defining the investment-grade carbon prices needed for the power and industrial sectors to meet the Paris Agreement. The initiative seeks to address the emerging questions on how companies can manage climate change risk through the use of carbon price scenarios.
China leads efforts to realize climate pact
By Xie Zhenhua and Feike Sijbesma | China Daily
Most notably, a great opportunity lies in carbon pricing as a critical instrument to unlock the public and the private capital needed for the transition to low-carbon technologies. Putting a meaningful price on carbon, for instance, will stimulate energy efficiency technology and make renewable energy more competitive.
Climate Change, Carbon Pricing and Energy Tax Expenditures
Low effective carbon prices in the context of energy taxation are the results of two factors. One is obvious: zero or low statutory rates on carbon and energy. The other one is more opaque, but significant: tax expenditures (TEs), i.e. government benefits granted through the tax code (such as exemptions, deductions, credits, rate reliefs or deferrals) that target a specific group of taxpayers as well as specific activities or regions.
The future will not be like the past
“The future will not be like the past”. This was one of the first phrases used to describe the current stage of the transition to a low-carbon economy. In a partnership among the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), We Mean Business and technical support by WayCarbon, a workshop took place in São Paulo to approach carbon pricing and its importance to foster actions to drastically reduce carbon emission in companies from different sectors.
