 British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax: A review of the latest “grand experiment” in environmental policyBrian Murray and Nicholas Rivers Energy Policy, 2015, vol. 86, issue C, 674-683 Abstract: In 2008, British Columbia implemented the first comprehensive and substantial carbon tax in North America. By 2012, the tax had reached a level of C$30/t CO2, and it covers about three-quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions in the province. This paper reviews existing evidence on the effect of the tax on greenhouse emissions, the economy, and the distribution of income, and provides new evidence on public perceptions of the tax. Empirical and simulation models suggest that the tax has reduced emissions in the province by between 5% and 15% since being implemented. At the same time, models show that the tax has had negligible effects on the aggregate economy, despite some evidence that certain emissions-intensive sectors face challenges. Studies differ on the effects of the policy on the distribution of income, however all studies agree that the effects are relatively small in this dimension. Finally, polling data shows that the tax was initially opposed by the majority of the public, but that three years post-implementation, the public generally supported the carbon tax. Keywords: Carbon tax; Evaluation; Policy; Emission price (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:86:y:2015:i:c:p:674-683 DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.08.011 Access Statistics for this article Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.