European Taxes and Incentives to Support the Environmental Transition

Silvia Velarde Aramayo – University of Salamanca, Faculty of Economics and Business, Salamanca, Spain

7th International Scientific ERAZ Conference – ERAZ 2021 – Conference Proceedings: KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,  Online/virtual, May 27, 2021

ERAZ Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, Mediterranean University, Montenegro; University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria; Faculty of Commercial and Business Studies – Celje, Slovenia; AMBIS University, Prague – Czech Republic; Faculty of Applied Management, Economics and Finance – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ Conference 2021 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-46-2, ISSN 2683-5568, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.2021

Abstract: The EU-27 has multiple environmental policy instruments among which revenues-based mechanisms and direct or indirect subsidies stand out. In the first group, around 142 taxes have been identified, whose objec­tive is to reduce GHG emissions. The second group includes tax incentives divided into five very broad categories. To this must be added the spending on environmental protection that has grown until reaching 269 EUR billion in the last year (analyzed by Eurostat).

The tax structures in the EU-27, Iceland, Norway, and United Kingdom are quite similar and show how the main segment comes from taxes on energy followed by taxes on transport, and taxes on pollution or resources. Some of them, more than an environmental goal, has the purpose of collecting taxes. The article seeks to underline the need to jointly manage the revenues and expenditures policy in environmental matters and increase control over its use, implementation, recipients, and effectiveness.

ERAZ Conference

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

References

ECORYS (2012) Study on Incentives Driving Improvement of Environmental Performance of Companies. Final Report, Rotterdam, 2012.

European Commission (2021), Taxation Trends in the European Union. Data for the EU Mem­ber States, Iceland and Norway, Luxembourg, Publications Office of the EU.

European Commission (2021) Taxation in support of green transition: an overview and assess­ment of existing tax practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Final Report, Luxem­bourg, Publications Office of the UE.

EUROSTAT (2020), Sustainable Development in the European Union Monitoring Report on Progress Towards the SDGs in an EU context, 4th edition, Publications Office of the EU.

EUROSTAT (2020), Key Figures on Europe. Statistics Illustrated, Luxembourg Publications Office of the EU.

EUROSTAT (2020), Energy, Transport and Environment Statistics, Luxembourg, Publications Office of the EU.

European Commission (2015) “EU ETS Handbook”, available on: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/ sites/clima/files/docs/ets_handbook_en.pdf

Surrey, Stanley and Mc DANIEL, Paul “Tax Expenditures”, Harvard University Press, Cam­bridge-MA, 1985.

Murauskaite-Bull, Ingrida And Caramizaru, Aura (2021), JRC Science for Policy Report. En­ergy Taxation and its Societal Effects, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Lux­embourg, Publications Office of the EU.