Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T07:28:04.480Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Public Finances and Decarbonisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

Grégory Claeys
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Marie Le Mouel
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Simone Tagliapietra
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Guntram B. Wolff
Affiliation:
German Council on Foreign Relations
Georg Zachmann
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses the role that fiscal policy can play in the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. In other words, it discusses how to design fiscal policy, both on the revenue and on the expenditure side, to reach net zero emissions by mid-century in a credible, growth- and distribution-friendly way. Furthermore, the chapter discusses how decarbonisation is likely to impact public finances, shedding light on what change might be required in tax revenues/expenditures, and if debt sustainability risks might arise from the green transition.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation
Implications and Policies
, pp. 109 - 159
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D., Aghion, P., Bursztyn, L., and Hemous, D. (2012) ‘The Environment and Directed Technical Change’, American Economic Review, 102:1, 131–66.Google Scholar
Bank of England (2022) ‘Climate Change: Possible Macroeconomic Implications’, Quarterly Bulletin, Q4 2022, 21 October, www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2022/2022-q4/climate-change-possible-macroeconomic-implicationsGoogle Scholar
Blanchard, O. (2023) Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Rates (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).Google Scholar
Blanchard, O., Gollier, C., and Tirole, J. (2022) ‘The Portfolio of Economic Policies Needed to Fight Climate Change’, Peterson Institute for International Economics Working Paper No. 22-18, www.piie.com/publications/working-papers/portfolio-economic-policies-needed-fight-climate-changeGoogle Scholar
Bureau, D., Henriet, F., and Schubert, K. (2019) ‘A Proposal for the Climate: Taxing Carbon Not People’, Note du Conseil d’Analyse Economique, No. 50, March, www.cae-eco.fr/staticfiles/pdf/cae-note050-env3.pdfGoogle Scholar
Calel, R., and Dechezlepretre, A. (2016) ‘Environmental Policy and Direct Technological Change: Evidence from the European Carbon Market’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 98:1: 171–91.Google Scholar
Carbone, J., Morgenstern, R., and Williams, R. III (2012) ‘Carbon Taxes and Deficit Reduction’, Resources for the Future working paper, www.rff.org/publications/reports/deficit-reduction-and-carbon-taxes-budgetary-economic-and-distributional-impacts/Google Scholar
Claeys, G., and Guetta-Jeanrenaud, L. (2022) ‘How Rate Increases Could Impact Debt Ratios in the Euro Area’s Most-Indebted Countries’, Bruegel blog, 5 July, www.bruegel.org/blog-post/how-rate-increases-could-impact-debt-ratios-euro-areas-most-indebted-countriesGoogle Scholar
Climate Leadership Council (2019) ‘The Four Pillars of Our Carbon Dividends Plan’, https://clcouncil.org/our-plan/Google Scholar
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (2022) ‘CBO Scores IRA with $238 Billion of Deficit Reduction’, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget blog, 7 September, www.crfb.org/blogs/cbo-scores-ira-238-billion-deficit-reductionGoogle Scholar
Darvas, Z., Domínguez-Jiménez, M., Devins, A., Grzegorczyk, M., Guetta-Jeanrenaud, L., Hendry, S., et al. (2021) ‘European Union Countries’ Recovery and Resilience Plans’, Bruegel Dataset, www.bruegel.org/dataset/european-union-countries-recovery-and-resilience-plansGoogle Scholar
Darvas, Z. and Wolff, G. (2022) ‘A Green Fiscal Pact for the EU: Increasing Climate Investments While Consolidating. Budgets’, Climate Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2147893Google Scholar
Dechezlepretre, A., Fabre, A., Kruse, T., Planterose, B., Sanchez Chico, A., and Stantcheva, S. (2022) ‘Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes toward Climate Policies’, https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/stantcheva/files/international_attitudes_climate_change.pdfGoogle Scholar
Estrada García, A., and Santabárbara García, D. (2021) Recycling Carbon Tax Revenues in Spain: Environmental and Economic Assessment of Selected Green Reforms (Banco de Espana, 14 May), https://repositorio.bde.es/handle/123456789/16552.Google Scholar
European Commission (2020) ‘Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment Accompanying the Communication Stepping up Europe’s 2030 Climate Ambition Investing in a Climate-Neutral Future for the Benefit of Our People’, COM(2020) 562 final, 17 September, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:749e04bb-f8c5-11ea-991b-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_2&format=PDFGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2021) ‘Commission Communication: The Next Generation of Own Resources for the EU Budget’, COM(2021) 566, 22 December, https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/about_the_european_commission/eu_budget/com_2021_566_1_en_act_part1_v8.pdfGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2022) ‘Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard’, https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-and-resilience-scoreboard/green.htmlGoogle Scholar
European Investment Bank (2021) ‘EIB Investment Report 2020/2021: Building a Smart and Green Europe in the COVID-19 Era’, www.eib.org/en/publications/investment-report-2020Google Scholar
Gabor, D. (2021) ‘The Wall Street Consensus’, Development and Change, 52:3, 429–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollier, C. (2021) ‘The Cost-Efficiency Carbon Pricing Puzzle’, TSE Working Paper No. 952.Google Scholar
Gössling, S., Humpe, A., Fichert, F., and Creutzig, F. (2021) ‘COVID-19 and Pathways to Low-Carbon Air Transport until 2050’, Environmental Research Letters, 16:3, 034063, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe90bGoogle Scholar
Goulder, L. H. (1995) ‘Effects of Carbon Taxes in an Economy with Prior Tax Distortions: An Intertemporal General Equilibrium Analysis’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 29:3, 271–97.Google Scholar
High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices (2017) Report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices (Washington, DC: World Bank).Google Scholar
Hirth, L., and Steckel, J. C. (2016) ‘The Role of Capital Costs in Decarbonizing the Electricity Sector’, Environmental Research Letters, 11:11, 114010.Google Scholar
Hotelling, H. (1931) ‘The Economics of Exhaustible Resources’, Journal of Political Economy, 39: 2, 137–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IMF (2020) ‘Mitigating Climate Change – Growth- and Distribution-Friendly Strategies’, WEO Chapter 3, October, www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Publications/WEO/2020/October/English/ch3.ashxGoogle Scholar
IMF (2021a) ‘Fossil Fuel Subsidy Database’, www.imf.org/en/Topics/climate-change/energy-subsidiesGoogle Scholar
IMF (2021b) ‘Reaching Net Zero Emissions’, June, www.imf.org/external/np/g20/pdf/2021/062221.pdf.Google Scholar
IPCC (2021) ‘Sixth Assessment Report’, www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/Google Scholar
IRENA (2021) ‘World Energy Transitions Outlook: 1.5°C Pathway’, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi, www.irena.org/publications/2021/Jun/World-Energy-Transitions-OutlookGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, W. K. (2013) ‘Double-Dividend Definition’, Encyclopedia of Energy, Natural Resource, and Environmental Economics, www.researchgate.net/publication/259486847_Encyclopedia_of_Encyclopedia_of_Energy_Natural_Resource_and_Environmental_EconomicsGoogle Scholar
Kotlikoff, L., Kubler, F., Polbin, A., and Scheidegger, S. (2021) ‘Can Today’s and Tomorrow’s World Uniformly Gain from Carbon Taxation?’, Working Paper No. 29224, National Bureau of Economic Research, https://kotlikoff.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Optimal_carbon_tax_in_multiregional_climate_OLG_model-17.pdfGoogle Scholar
Krieger, B., and Zipperer, V. (2022) ‘Does Green Public Procurement Trigger Environmental Innovations?’, Research Policy, 51:6, 104516.Google Scholar
Krogstrup, S., and Oman, W. (2019) ‘Macroeconomic and Financial Policies for Climate Change Mitigation: A Review of the Literature’, IMF Working Paper No. 19/185.Google Scholar
Leroutier, M. (2022) ‘Carbon Pricing and Power Sector Decarbonization: Evidence from the UK’, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 111, 102580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCollum, D. L., Zhou, W., Bertram, C., de Boer, H.-S., Bosetti, V., Busch, S., et al. (2018) ‘Energy Investment Needs for Fulfilling the Paris Agreement and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’, Nature Energy, 3, 589–99, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0179-zGoogle Scholar
Musgrave, R. A. (1959) A Theory of Public Finance (New York: McGraw Hill).Google Scholar
OECD (2017) ‘Technical Note on Estimates of Infrastructure Investment Needs, Background Note to the Report Investing in Climate, Investing in Growth’, www.oecd.org/environment/cc/g20-climate/Technical-note-estimates-of-infrastructure-investment-needs.pdfGoogle Scholar
Pigou, A. C. (1920) The Economics of Welfare (London: Macmillan).Google Scholar
Pisani-Ferry, J., and Mahfouz, S. (2022) L’action climatique: un enjeu macroéconomique (France Stratégie).Google Scholar
Quinet (2019) La valeur de l’action pour le climat (Paris: France Stratégie), www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/fs-the-value-for-climate-action-final-web.pdf (English)Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. (1948) Economics: An Introductory Analysis (New York: McGraw Hill).Google Scholar
Solow, R. (1971) ‘The Economist’s Approach to Pollution and Its Control’, Science, 173:3996, 498503.Google Scholar
UNFCCC (2022) ‘Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. Synthesis Report by the Secretariat’, https://unfccc.int/ndc-synthesis-report-2022?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxoXquKmWgQMVP12RBR2uswi0EAAYASAAEgJNYPD_BwEGoogle Scholar
Van der Ploeg, F. (2021) ‘Carbon Pricing under Uncertainty’, International Tax and Public Finance, 28, 1122–42, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-021-09686-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, G (2019) ‘Demystifying Carbon Border Adjustment for Europe’s Green Deal’, Bruegel blog, www.bruegel.org/blog-post/demystifying-carbon-border-adjustment-europes-green-dealGoogle Scholar
World Bank (2022a) State and Trends of Carbon Pricing (Washington, DC: World Bank), https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37455Google Scholar
World Bank (2022b) ‘Carbon Pricing Dashboard’, https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/Google Scholar
Zenios, S. (2021) ‘The Risks from Climate Change to Sovereign Debt in Europe’, Bruegel Policy Contribution No. 16/2021, www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/risks-climate-change-sovereign-debt-europeGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×