An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty
A carbon tax is one of the measures used to reduce GHG emissions, as it provides a strong political instrument for reaching the goal, stated in the Paris Agreement, of limiting the global mean temperature increase to well below 2 °C. While one aspect of a carbon tax is its ability to change income d...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb55d |
| _version_ | 1797747783724171264 |
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| author | Shinichiro Fujimori Tomoko Hasegawa Ken Oshiro |
| author_facet | Shinichiro Fujimori Tomoko Hasegawa Ken Oshiro |
| author_sort | Shinichiro Fujimori |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A carbon tax is one of the measures used to reduce GHG emissions, as it provides a strong political instrument for reaching the goal, stated in the Paris Agreement, of limiting the global mean temperature increase to well below 2 °C. While one aspect of a carbon tax is its ability to change income distribution, no quantitative assessment has been made within the context of global poverty. Here, we explore future poverty scenarios and show the extent to which carbon tax revenue, obtained to limit global warming to well below 2 °C, has the potential to help eradicate poverty. In order to better understand the relationship between poverty and climate change mitigation policy, we developed a novel modelling framework that includes a module representing poverty indicators in the conventional integrated assessment model. We found that the poverty gap, which is a measure of the shortfall in income relative to the poverty line, is 84 billion US dollars (USD) and that the carbon tax revenue potential for the above-mentioned 2 °C consistent climate change mitigation would be 1600 billion USD in 2030. Many low-income countries cannot fill the poverty gap using only their own domestic revenue; however, this shortfall could be met by using a portion of the revenue in high-income countries. Our results demonstrate that climate change mitigation can have a great potential in synergy effects for resolving poverty and illustrates the importance of international cooperation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3f04bfdeffdc472f8f9fb80eab602d91 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:32Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-3f04bfdeffdc472f8f9fb80eab602d912023-08-09T14:55:56ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262020-01-01151111406310.1088/1748-9326/abb55dAn assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle povertyShinichiro Fujimori0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7897-1796Tomoko Hasegawa1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2456-5789Ken Oshiro2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6720-409XDepartment of Environmental Engineering, Kyoto University , C1-3 361, Kyotodaigaku Katsura, Nishikyoku, Kyoto city, Japan; Center for Social and Environmental Systems Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) , 16–2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–8506, Japan; International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) , Schlossplatz 1, A-2361, Laxenburg, AustriaCenter for Social and Environmental Systems Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) , 16–2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–8506, Japan; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University , Kyoto, JapanDepartment of Environmental Engineering, Kyoto University , C1-3 361, Kyotodaigaku Katsura, Nishikyoku, Kyoto city, JapanA carbon tax is one of the measures used to reduce GHG emissions, as it provides a strong political instrument for reaching the goal, stated in the Paris Agreement, of limiting the global mean temperature increase to well below 2 °C. While one aspect of a carbon tax is its ability to change income distribution, no quantitative assessment has been made within the context of global poverty. Here, we explore future poverty scenarios and show the extent to which carbon tax revenue, obtained to limit global warming to well below 2 °C, has the potential to help eradicate poverty. In order to better understand the relationship between poverty and climate change mitigation policy, we developed a novel modelling framework that includes a module representing poverty indicators in the conventional integrated assessment model. We found that the poverty gap, which is a measure of the shortfall in income relative to the poverty line, is 84 billion US dollars (USD) and that the carbon tax revenue potential for the above-mentioned 2 °C consistent climate change mitigation would be 1600 billion USD in 2030. Many low-income countries cannot fill the poverty gap using only their own domestic revenue; however, this shortfall could be met by using a portion of the revenue in high-income countries. Our results demonstrate that climate change mitigation can have a great potential in synergy effects for resolving poverty and illustrates the importance of international cooperation.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb55dpovertyclimate change mitigation policyintegrated assessment model |
| spellingShingle | Shinichiro Fujimori Tomoko Hasegawa Ken Oshiro An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty Environmental Research Letters poverty climate change mitigation policy integrated assessment model |
| title | An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| title_full | An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| title_fullStr | An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| title_full_unstemmed | An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| title_short | An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| title_sort | assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty |
| topic | poverty climate change mitigation policy integrated assessment model |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb55d |
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