The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is currently considering the implementation of a basket of measures to decarbonize international shipping. These are to be in line with the climate mitigation targets included in the Initial IMO GHG Strategy — including reducing GHG emissions from shipping by at least 50 percent by 2050 over 2008 levels —…
Claudia Dias Soares[1] Key concepts: carbon accounting, capture, storage and removal, ‘Fit for 55 in 2030 package’, fiscal and monetary policy, social justice, environmental integrity Creative carbon accounting and techno-optimism On the 25th of April, the European Council adopted key pieces of legislation delivering on 2030 climate targets, following up on the legislative procedure to…
Susanne Akerfeldt (Senior Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Sweden[1]) What is CBAM? Simply put, CBAM is an EU proposal to ensure that imports of certain goods to the EU pay the same price on carbon emissions, as would have been paid if these goods have been produced in the EU. The EU Commission presented a proposal…
By María Amparo Grau Ruiz[1] Why taxation of carbon offset credits matters? A carbon offset is basically a removal or reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, or an increase in carbon storage, that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere (i.e., another company which may be in another sector, area or even jurisdiction)[2]….
“Green recovery” is one of the key themes of the stimulus packages implemented worldwide in response to the Covid-19-related economic downturn. Traditionally, the answer to economic crises has focused on monetary policy and financial assistance programmes. However, as interest rates get closer to the zero lower bound, alternative stimulus policies are gaining attention in academic…
Ivan Ozai (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University) Increasing concerns about anthropogenic climate change have motivated governments to strengthen policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One of the most novel policy issues under discussion in the European Union is the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) to equalize carbon prices on EU-produced…
On 9 April 2022, Law 7/2022 of 8 April on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy (“LRSC”) was finally published. This law responds to the obligation to transpose into the Spanish domestic law the measures derived from Directive 2018/851/EU (Waste Framework Directive) and Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain…
A new carbon pricing instrument In autumn 2021, the Austrian government presented its long announced eco-social tax reform as part of its climate strategy to minimize the Austrian greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2040. The Austrian Ecological Tax Reform Act contains a variety of climate and compensatory measures for citizens and companies. A…
Later this year, the 190 countries that have signed the Paris Agreement on climate change will meet at COP 26 in Glasgow—subject to the possibility of continuing pandemic-related travel restrictions—to discuss their respective plans for reducing harmful greenhouse-gas emissions. They are collectively committed to taking action in order to limit global warming to “well below”…
It was noted in my previous blog of this common series published on 24 August 2020 that on 22 July 2020 the European Commission opened a public consultation on the Carbon Border Adjustment proposal put forward as part of the EU Green Deal. This is not the first document issued under that initiative. In March…
It was noted in my previous blog of this common series published on 18 August 2020 that the European Commission opened a public consultation on the Carbon Border Adjustment proposal put forward as part of the EU Green Deal. This is not the first document issued under that initiative. In March 2020 the European Commission…
Tatiana Falcão[1] On 22 July 2020 the European Commission opened a public consultation on the Carbon Border Adjustment proposal put forward as part of the EU Green Deal. This is not the first document issued under that initiative. In March 2020 the European Commission published an Inception Impact Assessment Report to discuss policy options for…
