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Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06 ; Carbon taxation is becoming a prominent tool to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that promote climate change. Using an Input-Output model of Washington State for 2013, I determine the relative carbon intensity of economic sectors and show how a carbon tax in Washington State will impact household consumption, trade, and industrial activity through price increases resulting from that carbon tax. Although many studies have shown that carbon taxes are regressive, Washington State is uniquely positioned to implement a carbon tax that is only mildly regressive due to the reliance on hydro and other renewable sources of electricity as opposed to fossil fuel generated electricity. These remaining regressive effects can be mitigated through revenue recycling of carbon tax receipts.

Russia is not only one of the world’s major sources of carbon based energy – coal, oil and gas – but is also one the most intensive users of energy. Furthermore, Russia accounts for a disproportionately large share of global carbon dioxide emissions – some 5% to 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions (EIA, 2011a). It has been estimated (World Bank, 2008) that Russia could reduce its use of primary energy use by 45% with consequent economic and environmental benefits. High energy and carbon intensity of the Russia economy is, inter alia, explained by low energy prices due to high export taxes as well as administrative regulation of domestic prices of gas and electricity and low environmental taxes. Carbon taxes are one such Pigouvian tax and they would address concerns on several fronts simultaneously. In the short to medium term they would, inter alia, lead to lower GHG emissions and encourage the diffusion of more energy efficient technologies. In the longer term, the increased cost of energy inputs is expected to induce technological progress. In this analysis, the macroeconomic and sectoral effects of carbon taxes on the Russia economy are examined. This analysis addresses the following objectives: i) to test the double dividend hypothesis under perfect and imperfect competition in output markets, to analyse ii) the incidence of carbon taxes, iii) impacts on sectoral competitiveness, iv) effects on income equity, and v) interactions of carbon taxes with other taxes. A computable single-country multi-sector comparative static CGE model is employed. Russland verfügt nicht nur über einen der größten Vorräte an kohlenstoffbasierter Energie wie Kohle, Rohöl und Gas, sondern ist auch einer der größten Energieverbraucher. Darüber hinaus ist Russland für einen überproportional großen Anteil von Kohlendioxid-Emission - etwa 5% bis 6% – der weltweiten Kohlendioxidemission verantwortlich. Mit der Einführung einer Kohlendioxidsteuer könnten gleichzeitig unterschiedliche Wirkungen erzielt werden. Kurz- und mittelfristig würden Kohlenstoffsteuern sowohl zu einer Reduzierung von Treibhausgasemissionen als auch zur Einführung von energieeffizienteren Technologien führen. Langfristig wird erwartet, dass hohe Energiekosten den Anreiz zur Entwicklung und zur Investition in energiesparenden technischen Fortschritt erhöhen. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert und bewertet die makroökonomischen und sektoralen Auswirkungen einer Einführung von Kohlenstoffsteuern auf die russische Wirtschaft. Die Ziele der Arbeit bestehen darin, die Hypothese der doppelten Dividende für den Fall des vollkommenen und des unvollkommenen Wettbewerbs auf Gütermärkten zu überprüfen und die Inzidenz einer Kohlenstoffsteuer, ihre Auswirkungen auf die sektorale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, ihre Auswirkungen auf die Einkommensverteilung und die Interaktion von Kohlenstoffsteuern mit anderen Steuern zu analysieren und zu bewerten. Als methodischer Ansatz wurde ein Single-Country und Multi-Sektor Model gewählt.

The study focussed on the research question namely: “How will the introduction of new ecological taxes impact the South African agricultural sector?” To answer the question, eight international eco-taxes were selected and further investigated. The nature and history of each eco-tax was examined. The effects or expected effects (where implementation have not yet taken place) of the eco-taxes on the agricultural sectors of the foreign countries, were then considered. The study continued by considering the possible impact on South African agriculture, should these taxes be implemented in South Africa. This was accomplished by extrapolating the foreign effects previously investigated. Mindful of findings, recommendations were then made of what eco-taxes could be implemented which will not impede South African agriculture. It was concluded that the British Climate Change Levy and Climate Change Agreement scheme, Australian Carbon Farming Initiative and Swedish meat consumption tax could be considered for implementation. ; Financial Accounting ; M. Phil (Accounting Science)

Pricing greenhouse gas emissions is a burgeoning and possibly lucrative financial means for climate change mitigation. Emissions pricing is being used to fund emissions-abatement technologies and to modify land management to improve carbon sequestration and retention. Here we discuss the principal land-management options under existing and realistic future emissions-price legislation in Australia, and examine them with respect to their anticipated direct and indirect effects on biodiversity. The main ways in which emissions price-driven changes to land management can affect biodiversity are through policies and practices for (1) environmental plantings for carbon sequestration, (2) native regrowth, (3) fire management, (4) forestry, (5) agricultural practices (including cropping and grazing), and (6) feral animal control. While most land-management options available to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions offer clear advantages to increase the viability of native biodiversity, we describe several caveats regarding potentially negative outcomes, and outline components that need to be considered if biodiversity is also to benefit from the new carbon economy. Carbon plantings will only have real biodiversity value if they comprise appropriate native tree species and provide suitable habitats and resources for valued fauna. Such plantings also risk severely altering local hydrology and reducing water availability. Management of regrowth post-agricultural abandonment requires setting appropriate baselines and allowing for thinning in certain circumstances, and improvements to forestry rotation lengths would likely increase carbon-retention capacity and biodiversity value. Prescribed burning to reduce the frequency of high-intensity wildfires in northern Australia is being used as a tool to increase carbon retention. Fire management in southern Australia is not readily amenable for maximising carbon storage potential, but will become increasingly important for biodiversity conservation as the climate warms. Carbon price-based modifications to agriculture that would benefit biodiversity include reductions in tillage frequency and livestock densities, reductions in fertiliser use, and retention and regeneration of native shrubs; however, anticipated shifts to exotic perennial grass species such as buffel grass and kikuyu could have net negative implications for native biodiversity. Finally, it is unlikely that major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions arising from feral animal control are possible, even though reduced densities of feral herbivores will benefit Australian biodiversity greatly.

In the midwestern United States, ethanol produced from corn is mixed with gasoline to meet clean air standards. Allocating land to produce clean fuel means taking away land from farming. We examine the use of a scarce fossil fuel that causes pollution but may be substituted by a clean fuel produced from land. When land is scarce, it is gradually shifted away from farming to energy production. However, when land is abundant, there may be a jump in the supply of clean energy. When the stock of pollution is regulated, the supply of clean energy may exhibit multiple discontinuities. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Coal-fired power plants are major stationary sources of carbon dioxide and environmental constraints demand technologies for abatement. Although Carbon Capture and Storage is the most mature route, it poses severe economic penalty to power generation. Alternatively, this penalty is potentially reduced by Carbon Capture and Utilization, which converts carbon dioxide to valuable products, monetizing it. This work evaluates a route consisting of carbon dioxide bio-capture by Chlorella pyrenoidosa and use of the resulting biomass as feedstock to a microalgae-based biorefinery; Carbon Capture and Storage route is evaluated as a reference technology. The integrated arrangement comprises: (a) carbon dioxide biocapture in a photobioreactor, (b) oil extraction from part of the produced biomass, (b) gasification of remaining biomass to obtain bio-syngas, and (c) conversion of bio-syngas to methanol. Calculation of capital and operational expenditures are estimated based on mass and energy balances obtained by process simulation for both routes (Carbon Capture and Storage and the biorefinery). Capital expenditure for the biorefinery is higher by a factor of 6.7, while operational expenditure is lower by a factor of 0.45 and revenues occur only for this route, with a ratio revenue/operational expenditure of 1.6. The photobioreactor is responsible for one fifth of the biorefinery capital expenditure, with footprint of about 1000 ha, posing the most significant barrier for technical and economic feasibility of the proposed biorefinery. The Biorefinery and Carbon Capture and Storage routes show carbon dioxide capture efficiency of 73% and 48%, respectively, with capture cost of 139$/t and 304$/t. Additionally, the biorefinery has superior performance in all evaluated metrics of environmental impacts.

This report’s starting point is thus to acknowledge that despite Sweden’s many virtues, there are areas in which it can do better, and the task has been to identify those areas, focusing particularly on the quality of the investment climate and competitiveness. This has been done in two main ways. First, by looking at areas of the business environment captured by databases compiled in the World Bank Group’s Global Indicators Group—Doing Business, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Regulations, and Women, Business and the Law. And second, by examining other critical areas where there is a large body of data, knowledge and insight that casts relevant light on several key policy challenges facing the country in coming years. In the paragraphs that follow we present a summary of the report’s main conclusions.

We assess the welfare implications of a revenue-neutral tax in the presence of two Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) policies for cellulosic biofuels: the waiver credit and the input-ratio requirement. We extend the model of revenue-neutral taxation to allow for the taxation of a dirty input in an imperfectly competitive market while integrating RFS-specific policies. Simulations from Washington and Oregon indicate that a revenue-neutral tax raises welfare by 19%'21% but growth in cellulosic ethanol production is minimal, ranging from 0.6% to 1.5%. Pollution taxes, cellulosic ethanol production, and welfare are more responsive to the waiver credit than to the input-ratio requirement.

The case for climate action has never been stronger. Current weather extremes, including storms, floods and drought, affect millions of people across the world. Climate change is putting water security at risk; threatening agricultural and other supply chains as well as many coastal cities. The likelihood of severe pervasive and irreversible impacts will grow without action to limit and reverse the growth of GHG emissions globally. Last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report makes clear the overwhelming need to take action now on climate change and that the costs of inaction will only rise. The challenge is to decarbonize our economies by 2100 with action in the next decades being critical. The choices made by government, the private sector, and civil society as part of the transition to a decarbonized economy will determine the extent of future climate impacts but also provide an opportunity to unlock investment and build an innovative, dynamic low-carbon economy.