Understanding the resistance to carbon taxes: Drivers and barriers among the general public and fuel-tax protesters

Ewald, Jens; Sterner, Thomas; Sterner, Erik

doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2022.101331

Cited by 54 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…On the other hand, where fossil fuel pricing reform has been successfully implemented, transparency, information dissemination, and stakeholder consultation appear to be important for reducing the general distrust in government that may subvert such reforms (Douenne and Fabre 2022;Ewald, Sterner, and Sterner 2022;Klenert et al 2018). For example, an information campaign launched to improve knowledge about climate change and climate policies, explain the role of carbon pricing, and consult with stakeholders could have averted the public distrust of carbon taxation that was a regrettable consequence of the Yellow Vest protests in France (Douenne and Fabre 2022).…”

Section: Complementary Policies and Investmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, an information campaign launched to improve knowledge about climate change and climate policies, explain the role of carbon pricing, and consult with stakeholders could have averted the public distrust of carbon taxation that was a regrettable consequence of the Yellow Vest protests in France (Douenne and Fabre 2022). In comparison, the successful introduction in 1991 of the carbon tax in Sweden was accompanied by a general reform of the tax system to reduce other inequities and involved considerable stakeholder consultation (Douenne and Fabre 2022;Ewald, Sterner, and Sterner 2022).…”

Section: Complementary Policies and Investmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Greening the G7 Economies through a More Inclusive Climate Club

Barbier¹

2023

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Despite some progress, the Group of Seven (G7) have yet to act collectively to foster a low-carbon transition of their economies. This paper outlines such a strategy, which would also encourage other economies to follow suit. This strategy has three elements. First, the G7 should agree to end the underpricing of fossil fuels, including phasing out subsidies and phasing in taxes or tradable permits to cover the costs of local air pollution, global warming, and other damages. Second, any revenues saved or raised should be recycled to fund green innovation or additional measures to offset any adverse income or employment effects of a clean energy transition. Third, the G7 should require that fossil fuel pricing reforms are the main precondition for joining its proposed Climate Club and should impose a levy on carbonintensive imports to encourage compliance by other countries. The G7 should also provide comprehensive assistance to emerging market and developing economies to help accelerate their clean energy transition, facilitate their eventual participation in the Climate Club, and foster the attainment of climate, poverty, and development goals that also promote strong and resilient economies.

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Section: Complementary Policies and Investmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Complementary Policies and Investmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Greening the G7 Economies through a More Inclusive Climate Club

Barbier¹

2023

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“…The following reasons explaining green tax unpopularity have been proposed: One, it stems from the economic logic that, like all taxes, they decrease individual budget (Jagers and Hammar 2009) 3 and are often perceived as an infringement on freedom of choice (Kim et al 2013), as coercive (Bachus et al 2019) and unfair (Jagers and Hammar 2009), e.g. for residents from rural areas (Ewald et al 2021). Fear of negative impacts on low-income households is also a factor which leads to the rejection of green taxes (Carattini et al 2018, Fremstad andPaul 2019).…”

Section: Controversy Around Environmental Taxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fear of negative impacts on low-income households is also a factor which leads to the rejection of green taxes (Carattini et al 2018, Fremstad andPaul 2019). Another issue is that people tend to believe that Pigouvian taxes are not effective (Baranzini et al 2014) because they have trouble understanding taxes in general (Ewald et al 2021) or seeing the true costs and benefits specifically (Steg et al 2006). People fear that governments only want to increase fiscal revenue and that environmental taxes do not discourage climate-harming behaviours after all (Carattini et al 2018).…”

Section: Controversy Around Environmental Taxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the gap: the influence of information and education on acceptance of environmental taxes in Switzerland

Ruprecht

2023

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Mitigating climate change remains a challenge for politics since efficient instruments such as environmental taxes are widely unpopular, with one determinant of objection being a lack of knowledge. Trying to increase environmental tax acceptance, previous studies found positive, negative as well as no effects of information treatments about environmental taxes. Contributing to this inconclusive research, I apply MOSAiCH 2020 panel data from Switzerland, calculating the causal effect of receiving an environmental tax information treatment on willingness to pay them. While the information effect was inconsistent for the full sample, information significantly increases green tax acceptance of less educated people. This subgroup effect hence offers an explanation for previous inconsistencies by showing that information does not affect everyone equally. Especially for less educated people, receiving information about the functioning of environmental taxes might therefore prove crucial for policymakers to gain majority support of environmental taxes necessary for their implementation.

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“…Due to pervasive public resistance to programs restricting individual choice (Sievert et al, 2020;Ewald et al, 2021;Pechey et al, 2022), much of this research has focused on the value of behavior change strategies in promoting voluntary shifts in food choice (Bianchi et al, 2018a,b;Graça et al, 2019). Within the context of meat reduction interventions, common strategies include those that (1) modify the presentation and arrangement of items on menus, (2) add to the existing set of meal options, (3) manipulate the layouts of dining areas, (4) utilize promotional messaging, and (5) introduce pricing incentives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for reducing meat consumption within college and university settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Chang

Wooden

Rosman

et al. 2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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IntroductionDespite the considerable public and planetary health benefits associated with reducing the amount of meat consumed in high-income countries, there is a limited empirical understanding of how these voluntary changes in food choice can be effectively facilitated across different settings. While prior reviews have given us broad insights into the varying capacities of behavior change strategies to promote meaningful reductions in meat consumption, none have compared how they perform relative to each other within a uniform dining context.MethodsTo address this gap in the literature, we synthesized the available research on university-implemented meat reduction interventions and examined the variations in the success rates and effect estimates associated with each of the three approaches identified in our systematic review.ResultsFrom our analyses of the 31 studies that met our criteria for inclusion (n = 31), we found that most were successful in reducing the amount of meat consumed within university settings. Moreover, independent of the number of individual strategies being used, multimodal interventions were found to be more reliable and effective in facilitating these changes in food choice than interventions targeting the choice architecture of the retail environment or conscious decision-making processes alone.DiscussionIn addition to demonstrating the overall value of behavior change initiatives in advancing more sustainable dining practices on college and university campuses, this study lends further insights into the merits and mechanics underlying strategically integrated approaches to dietary change. Further investigations exploring the persistence and generalizability of these effects and intervention design principles are needed.Systematic review registrationhttps://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DXQ5V, identifier: 10.17605/OSF.IO/DXQ5V.

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Understanding the resistance to carbon taxes: Drivers and barriers among the general public and fuel-tax protesters

Cited by 54 publications

References 59 publications

Greening the G7 Economies through a More Inclusive Climate Club

Greening the G7 Economies through a More Inclusive Climate Club

Bridging the gap: the influence of information and education on acceptance of environmental taxes in Switzerland

Strategies for reducing meat consumption within college and university settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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