Environmental Taxation

Tania Kanea Scholz

S. 3821. Introduction. The critical need for a coordinated environmental policy

In the current international scenario, there is a critical need to set a minimum carbon tax or price to face rising global warming and tackle the damage it produces to society. In this sense, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently pointed out that limiting global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels and holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C demands reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 or 50 %, respectively, no later than 2030 in comparison to the emissions of 2019. To achieve this later goal, a global carbon price of USD 85 per tonne by 2030 is suggested which is far from the current global price of USD 5 per tonne.

Despite the urgency of the climate crisis, no international agreement has yet established a coordinated carbon price floor capable of disrupting polluting behaviors and fostering the development of green technologies. This situation is the consequence of the existing gap in climate mitigation policies between different jurisdictions as well as the dissimilar objectives and needs they face.

In this fragmented context, some na...