Carbon pricing and competitiveness: Are they at odds?

Jane Ellis, Daniel Nachtigall and Frank Venmans
Additional contact information
Jane Ellis: OECD
Daniel Nachtigall: OECD

No 152, OECD Environment Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This paper reviews ex-post empirical assessments on the impact of carbon pricing on competitiveness in OECD and G20 countries in the electricity and industrial sectors. Most of these assessments find no statistically significant effects of carbon pricing or energy prices on different dimensions of competitiveness, including net imports, foreign direct investments, turnover, value added, employment, profits, productivity, and innovation. When statistically significant results have been found, the magnitude of such effects tends to be small - either positive or negative. Thus, concerns about negative short-term effects of carbon pricing on firms’ or sectors’ international competitiveness have not come to pass, at least to date. These findings are in part because carbon price levels have been low and because of exemptions to carbon taxes for industry, or generous levels of free allowances to firms covered by emissions trading schemes.

Keywords: carbon markets; carbon pricing; competitiveness; environmental regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H23 Q54 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-11-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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https://doi.org/10.1787/f79a75ab-en (text/html)

Related works:
Journal Article: Carbon pricing and competitiveness: are they at odds? (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:envaaa:152-en

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