Raising taxes on highly polluting sources of energy is an effective way to curb CO2 emissions, says a new report from the OECD. However, 70% of energy-related CO2 emissions in developed and emerging economies are “entirely untaxed,” giving emission-producing companies little reason to change business practices (bit.ly/OECDtaxes).
Where is Sweden in all this? Sweden has the highest tax on carbon dioxide of all OECD countries – 107 euro per ton CO2 – but this tax is apparently not evenly spread over all emission sources. Only Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland meet or are over the threshold of 30 euro/ton CO2 over all emissions. According to the OECD as reported by SvD, the reason Sweden isn’t part of this elite crowd is because we use so much biodeisel, and biodeisel is exempt from CO2 taxes.
For many countries, especially developing ones, it is politically challenging to make prices high enough to encourage (or at least make economically worthwhile) deep reductions in CO2 emissions. The Yellow Vest movement in France is one example of popular pushback. In Sweden, the revolt over the taxes on gas (bensinupproret 2.0) is a minor variant of the same. Australia, Canada, Great Britain and a dozen-odd states in the US have taken significant steps in taxing emissions. In Canada, though, the opposition Conservative party has promised to do away with the tax if they win in the upcoming election (nyti.ms/NYTimesEmissions). Also exerting significant popular pressure, but in the other direction, are the pro-environment youth movements pressuring their governments for just these sorts of taxes.
The main report, with a country-wide breakdown so Sweden can really see where it’s at, will be presented in October. We can expect bigger headlines then.