By putting a price on pollution, taxes and tradable permit systems incentivise emissions abatement at the lowest possible cost. The OECD's work on tax and the environment investigates to what extent countries harness the power of taxes and tradable permit systems for environmental and climate policy. Additional topics of expertise include the interaction between environmental taxation and the broader tax system, and the impacts of environmental taxes on competitiveness and on equity.

CARBON PRICING IN FIGURES

• The Effective Carbon Rate (ECR) is the effective price signal applicable to carbon emissions, resulting from carbon taxes, fuel excise taxes, and the prices of tradable emissions permits.
  
  
• Around 60% of CO2-emissions from all energy use in 44 OECD and G20 countries are not subject to an ECR at all, and only around 10% to a rate of at least EUR 60 per tonne. Hence, approximately 90% of emissions are priced below a mid-range estimate of the costs of CO2-emissions to society in 2020 and a low-end estimate in 2030, being EUR 60 per tonne.
  
  
• The Carbon Pricing Score (CPS) indicates how close OECD and G20 countries are, together as well as individually, to pricing all energy related carbon emissions at benchmark values for carbon costs. It describes the state of carbon pricing and can be compared across countries and time. At EUR 60 per tonne the CPS is 19% for the 44 countries in 2018.
  
  
• Countries' carbon pricing scores ranged from 1% to 69% in 2018. Countries with a high score tend to emit fewer emissions than countries that hardly price any emissions. High-score countries also emit less CO2 per unit of GDP and are better prepared for the low carbon economy.
  
  
• Country-specific figures on carbon pricing are available for 44 OECD and G20 countries.
  
  

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Taxing Energy Use 2019: Using Taxes for Climate Action

Taxing Energy Use provides unique information on energy and carbon taxes in OECD and G20 countries. Tax rates and tax base coverage are detailed by country, sector, energy source and tax type. The use of a common methodology ensures full comparability of tax rates and structures across countries. Summary indicators facilitate cross-country comparisons. Well-designed energy tax systems encourage citizens and investors to favour clean over polluting energy sources. Reforming energy tax systems is a key component in the fight against climate change and delivers co-benefits in the form of reduced health damages from local air pollution.