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Europe’s energy State aid guidelines no longer reflect the market reality and need to be carefully revised. This study looks at the existing rules and provides recommendations for the revised guidelines to effectively contribute to accelerating the decarbonisation of Europe’s economy. It calls on the European Commission to pursue a combined approach that looks at reinforcing both common objectives and specific State aid measures. Since the approval of the latest Guidelines for State Aid for Energy and Environmental Protection (EEAG) in 2014, the EU institutions have agreed to accelerate the decarbonisation process to reach a climate-neutral economy by 2050. This strong impetus heavily influences the energy market where we see new economic models and types of actors emerging, and where there has been significant technological progress over the past years. The energy and environmental protection State aid guidelines no longer reflect the market’s reality and need to be revised carefully. As Brussels is about to kick off the revision of the EEAG, this report provides recommendations for new rules that effectively contribute to fast-tracking the transition towards low carbon energy systems in a cost-efficient way. Above all, Brussels should align the new rules with its 2030 climate and energy transition targets. “The EEAG reform should combine approaches that look both at common objectives and specific aid measures. This requires a significant evolution of the current regime whilst ensuring smooth continuity. Defining clear criteria to assess the contribution of a specific State aid measure to the ‘common interest’ is of utmost importance. The revised EEAG should strengthen these assessment criteria, including for specific aid measures. They must promote technology neutrality and consider the energy system’s resilience. Among the assessment criteria, the application of the proportionality test should be improved.” - Catherine Banet, author of the report The Guidelines are part of a bigger ecosystem of rules. The EEAG work in close interaction with the general block exemption Regulation (GBER) which allows the Commission to exempt prior State aid notification – and approval – in specific cases. This has proven to be efficient and should be maintained. If, during the review, a different approach is chosen, it may impact the entire architecture of the hard and soft law ecosystem of the EU state aid regime. The Clean Energy Package for All Europeans is a driver of the reflection behind the revision of the Guidelines. The scope of application of the EEAG should reflect and build upon the provisions laid down in this package. At the same time, the new Guidelines have the challenging task of anticipating the impacts of moving climate targets from the European Green Deal and the upcoming rules to achieve them, such as the revised renewable energy directive, the revised alternative fuels infrastructure directive, the implementation of the sector integration strategy and the Hydrogen strategy. Finally, enforcing the rules is just as important as setting the right rules. The report notes that, on several occasions in its recent case law, the Court of Justice of the EU has reversed some of the European Commission’s approval decisions, with major impacts on markets. The revised Guidelines should be set and applied so as to eliminate the risk of reversals of the Commission’s decisions as much as possible. “The COVID-19 crisis is just one example of the deep uncertainties and changes our society is going through. Europe should be prepared for more disruption. We need to build a more resilient energy system that can cope with such unexpected external shocks. The energy state aid Guidelines should be an integral part of a long term sustainable recovery roadmap.” - Catherine Banet, author of the report.
This comprehensive volume provides the first book-length account on the politics of fossil fuel subsidies. This title is also available as Open Access.
When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990 Finland was the first country to introduce a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO2 and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that in Europe taxes of more than 25 billion Euros a year have been shifted. This book examines carbon-energy taxation in detail and looks at tax shifting programmes for lowering other taxes. It offers extensive analysis on the basis of historical data and seeks to answer important questions for policy-making, such as: What was the impact of tax shifting for economic performance and competitiveness? By how much were emissions of CO2 reduced? Could energy-intensive industries cut further down on their fuel demand or did they loose market shares? To what extent was there 'leakage' from Europe, so that production and CO2 emissions were shifted to other countries or regions without CO2-abatement policy? The use of unique and original data, including sector-specific energy prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co-integration analysis and panel-regression techniques along with the time-series estimated macro-economic model E3ME, make this a truly comprehensive volume. On the basis of the lessons learned in Europe, this volume indicates how carbon-energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and discusses implications for future international climate policy, including how the IPCC recommendations for a gradual escalation in carbon price could be accomplished while preventing carbon leakage.
This book is a compilation of contributions exploring the impact of the European Treaty provisions regarding state aid on Member States’ legislation and administrative practice in the area of business taxation. Starting from a detailed analysis of the European Courts’ jurisprudence on Art.107 TFEU the authors lay out fundamental issues – e.g. on legal concepts like “advantage”, “selectivity” and “discrimination” – and explore current problems – in particular policy and practice regarding “harmful” tax competition within the European Union. This includes the Member States’ Code of Conduct on business taxation, the limits to anti-avoidance legislation and the options for legislation on patent boxes. The European Commission’s recent findings on preferential “rulings” are discussed as well as the general relationship between international tax law, transfer pricing standards and the European prohibition on selective fiscal aids.
Although the future extent and effects of global climate change remain uncertain, the expected damages are not zero, and risks of serious environmental and macroeconomic consequences rise with increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Despite the uncertainties, reducing emissions now makes sense, and a carbon tax is the simplest, most effective, and least costly way to do this. At the same time, a carbon tax would provide substantial new revenues which may be badly needed, given historically high debt-to-GDP levels, pressures on social security and medical budgets, and calls to reform taxes on personal and corporate income. This book is about the practicalities of introducing a carbon tax, set against the broader fiscal context. It consists of thirteen chapters, written by leading experts, covering the full range of issues policymakers would need to understand, such as the revenue potential of a carbon tax, how the tax can be administered, the advantages of carbon taxes over other mitigation instruments and the environmental and macroeconomic impacts of the tax. A carbon tax can work in the United States. This volume shows how, by laying out sound design principles, opportunities for broader policy reforms, and feasible solutions to specific implementation challenges.
This report provides actionable advice on how to design and implement fiscal policies for both development and climate action. Building on more than two decades of research in development and environmental economics, it argues that well-designed environmental tax reforms are especially valuable in developing countries, where they can reduce emissions, increase domestic revenues, and generate positive welfare effects such as cleaner water, safer roads, and improvements in human health. Moreover, these reforms need not harm competitiveness. New empirical evidence from Indonesia and Mexico suggests that under certain conditions, raising fuel prices can actually increase firm productivity. Finally, the report discusses the role of fiscal policy in strengthening resilience to climate change. It provides evidence that preventive public investments and measures to build fiscal buffers can help safeguard stability and growth in the face of rising climate risks. In this way, environmental tax reforms and climate risk-management strategies can lay the much-needed fiscal foundation for development and climate action.
A comprehensive analysis of an environmental tax reform where people are taxed on pollution and the use of natural resources instead of on their income, this book looks at the challenges involved in implementing this tax reform across Europe.
This important new work offers a comprehensive and compelling account of State aid law and policy and its application to the energy sector. Clearly structured and offering meticulous detail and robust analysis, it is required reading for all practitioners in the field. The volume explores general questions from the definition of State aid to its application in Member States by national courts. It also examines questions of procedure, questions of compatibility, and State aid and the EEA. It is an invaluable tool for lawyers, policymakers and tax professionals specialising in State aid law and energy law, written by a team of leading practitioners and academics in the field.
ÔIngeniously organized in a life cycle format, the Handbook covers environmental taxation concepts, design, acceptance, implementation, and impact. The universal themes discussed in each area will appeal to a broad range of readers.Õ Ð Larry Kreiser, Cleveland State University, US ÔThis book is a smart and useful readerÕs guide providing analytical tools for a full comprehension of environmental taxes, with an interdisciplinary approach that looks at all the different phases of environmental taxation: from the design to the implementation, the political acceptance and the impact on the economy. The authorsÕ effort is very successful in endowing academicians, policy makers and the general public with an excellent proof of the effectiveness of environmental taxes and green tax reforms.Õ Ð Alberto Majocchi, University of Pavia, Italy ÔPutting the words ÒenvironmentÓ next to ÒtaxationÓ might not always be the flavour of the month, but no modern society can ignore the value of the natural environment and the need to maintain its good quality and no competitive economy can prosper without the necessary tax revenues to function. Environmental taxation offers the prospect of moving towards a more resource-efficient economy, where preference is given to tax more what we burn, less what we earn. I welcome this contribution to the literature.Õ Ð Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, European Commission ÔThe Milne and Andersen volume provides a splendid treatment of environmental taxation that encompasses the basic conceptual issues, problems of tax design and implementation, and several insightful case studies that show how environmental taxes actually work in practice. It is the best overall treatment of environmental taxation available: comprehensive, rigorous, and readable.Õ Ð Wallace Oates, University of Maryland, US The Handbook of Research on Environmental Taxation captures the state of the art of research on environmental taxation. Written by 36 specialists in environmental taxation from 16 countries, it takes an interdisciplinary and international approach, focusing on issues that are universal to using taxation to achieve environmental goals. The Handbook explores the conceptual foundations of environmental taxation, essential elements for designing environmental tax measures, factors that influence the acceptance of environmental taxation, the variety of ways to implement environmental taxes, their environmental and economic impact and, finally, the larger question of the role of taxation among other policy approaches to environmental protection. Intermixing theory with case studies, the Handbook offers readers lessons that can be applied around the world. It identifies key bodies of research for people who are already working in the field or entering the field and highlights issues that call for more research in the future. With systematic analysis of key issues in environmental taxation, this book will appeal to researchers, governments, think tanks, NGOs, and academics in law, economics, political science and public finance, as well as students specializing in environmental taxation and other market-based instruments.