Mitigation costs, distributional effects, and ancillary benefits of carbon policies in the Nordic countries, the U.K., and Ireland

摘要

This paper provides a survey of top-down modelling analyses of carbon (C) abatement mitigation costs, distributional effects and ancillary benefits in the Nordic countries, the U.K. and Ireland. Special emphasis is placed on the effects of revenue recycling and tax exemptions. According to the analyses, modest emissions reductions can be met without substantial costs for the countries studied, and a strong double dividend is found in some analyses. The gross domestic product (GDP) or welfare effectsare mostly in the range of -0.4 and 1.2 percent when C emissions are reduced by 20-30 percent. Lowest costs are obtained without tax exemptions and with tax revenues used to reduce distortionary taxes. Ancillary benefits are mostly in the range 35-80 dollar/MgC~(-1), i.e., about the same order of magnitude as the mitigation costs. Distributional effects are mostly regressive, unless the tax revenues are distributed in lump-sum fashion with equal transfers to each household.