Is there anything new about border tax adjustments and climate policy?

摘要

In this paper, analysis has been presented relating to the impact of border tax adjustments for climate policy on the international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries, and the related problem of carbon leakage. The overall conclusion is that the economic and legal issues are not new. Climate policy, however, presents some possible twists to the analysis, including, among others, the following: first, application of border measures is likely to be industry-specific, thereby creating the potential for relative price effects; second, for a destination-basis system of taxation to be trade-neutral will require border adjustments for both imports and exports; and third, under a cap-and-trade system, distribution of emission allowances matters.