The current overlapping crises have a crucial influence on the transition to carbon-neutral societies. The COVCLIM project analyses approaches to carbon pricing that factor in poverty and inequality and underlying policy processes to support the transition to sustainable and equitable economic structures.
The economic and political impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine fundamentally shape the prospects for a just transition to a sustainable society. Economic stimulus packages, climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, and aid and poverty alleviation programmes are straining public budgets and necessitating fiscal reforms. This pressure to act offers a historic opportunity to achieve a triple dividend: Climate action, fiscal consolidation, and social justice. Implementing a green tax reform could enable countries to address these challenges, in particular to set price signals for a low-carbon economy, raise revenues to consolidate public budgets, and fight poverty and inequality.
In this context, the COVCLIM project examines Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) pledged under the international climate agreement regarding carbon tax reforms as an indicator of climate ambition. We will also analyse design options of carbon tax reforms to reduce poverty as well as inequality and examine underlying differences in political and economic processes that lead to implementation or blockages. For this, we will explore reforms in industrialised and middle-income countries in more detail.
New topicwise publications:
Malerba, D., & Wiebe, K. S. (2021). Analysing the effect of climate policies on poverty through employment channels. Environmental Research Letters, 16(3), 035013.
Malerba, D., Gaentzsch, A., & Ward, H. (2021). Mitigating poverty: The patterns of multiple carbon tax and recycling regimes for Peru. Energy Policy, 149, 111961.
Malerba D. (2022). Just transitions: a review of how to decarbonise energy systems while addressing poverty and inequality reduction. DIE discussion paper 6/2022