Who bears the brunt? Distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies
Summary (2 min read)
Introduction
- There is long-standing interest in the distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies in the literatures on climate and energy policy, and economics.
- The authors shall argue that the distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies will depend to a large extent on their exact design and on the area of emissions that they target (for example, emissions from home energy use as opposed to emissions from transport).
- It needs to be stressed here that so-called ‘market-based’ climate change mitigation policies which define an overall cap on emissions for the economy (on any scale, e.g. nationally or globally) impose a strict ‘straitjacket’ on the market, in effect creating a highly regulated type of market.
- The second section summarizes the findings regarding the distributional effects of different types of mitigation policies.
Types of mitigation policies
- The two main alternative market-based tools are carbon taxes and cap and trade schemes which both put a price on energy use or greenhouse gas emissions in order to include ‘negative externalities’ resulting from economic activities (e.g. pollution) in the pricing mechanism.
- Mitigation instruments can apply at different levels of economic activity: up-, mid- or downstream in the chain of production running from natural resource extraction down to the end user.
- Within cap and trade schemes, several options exist as to how emission permits are allocated to the participants – all of which have different distributional impacts.
- This approach is called ‘grandfathering’ in the literature.
Distributional effects
- This expectation also carries through to various types of cap and trade schemes.
- There is a general consensus that downstream taxses on home energy use are regressive if the revenue from those taxes or charges is not redistributed to the citizens (Baranzini et al., 2000; Barker and Köhler, 1998; Dresner and Ekins, 2006).
- This means that low income households spend much higher shares of their income on home energy than richer households (Dresner and Ekins, 2006; Druckman and Jackson, 2008; Wier et al., 2005).
- Several authors argue that environmental policies will be more effective if distributional aspects are dealt with separately (e.g. Johnstone and Serret, 2006: 5; Metcalf and Weisbach, 2009).
- Studies using data from the United States report regressive effects of motoring taxes even if the whole population is included, because of high car dependency (Wadud et al., 2008; Walls and Hanson, 1999). at Freie Universitaet Berlin on April 24, 2015csp.sagepub.comDownloaded from.
Impact of methodological choices
- The distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies presented in different studies also depend on several methodological choices, for example the type of measurement of distributional effects and whether or not behavioural responses are included in the model.
- Behavioural models also estimate the distribution of financial burdens but include estimates of changes in people’s consumption behaviour in response to price increases.
- In a Cap and Share or Cap and Dividend scheme, any individual who consumes less than the capped level of emissions will financially gain from the rebate/revenue (AEA and Cambridge Econometrics, 2008; Boyce and Riddle, 2007).
- If poorer households gain more in absolute terms than richer households, the distributional effect will be strongly progressive in relative terms.
Socio-demographic factors
- The previous section was confined to a consideration of the distributional effects of mitigation policies across income bands.
- An analysis of distributional effects that only focuses on income groups disguises considerable variations of the distribution of burdens and benefits within income groups, because of such additional factors.
- The trend towards smaller household sizes is therefore a driving factor behind increasing per capita emissions in many rich countries, particularly if indirect emissions are included (Druckman and Jackson, 2008: 3184).
- So far, relatively few studies use multivariate regression analysis to examine the relative impact of different socio-economic factors (Baiocchi et al., 2010; Brand and Preston, 2010; DEFRA, 2008a; Lenzen et al., 2006; Weber and Matthews, 2008).
Conclusions
- The literature exhibits a broad consensus that climate change mitigation policies usually have regressive effects in the absence of compensatory revenue recycling.
- Study results also depend on methodological choices, such as the measure that is used to examine distributional effects and whether or not behavioural responses are included in the model.
- Policy options of mitigating those effects need to be further investigated.
- Of course, revenue can only arise from carbon reduction policies as long as there are emissions left that can be reduced – once net-emissions have reached zero, the revenue stream from those policies will run dry.
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Cites background from "Who bears the brunt? Distributional..."
...Social justice perspectives have often been considered in conjunction with such debates, for example, by emphasising distributional questions in climate change policy (Büchs et al. 2011) or exploring the structural inequalities that underpin fuel poverty (Walker and Day 2012)....
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...Social justice perspectives have often been considered in conjunction with such debates, for example, by emphasising distributional questions in climate change policy (Büchs et al. 2011) or exploring the structural inequalities that underpin fuel poverty (Walker and Day 2012)....
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68 citations
68 citations
Cites background from "Who bears the brunt? Distributional..."
...In addition, it should be pointed out that ‘schemes that put a price on carbon emissions further upstream … have an effect not only on downstream energy prices but also on all other goods and services owing to the higher price of the energy used in their production’ (Büchs et al., 2011 p. 291)....
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References
642 citations
"Who bears the brunt? Distributional..." refers background in this paper
...In other words, ‘grandfathering’ is likely to have regressive effects (Shammin and Bullard, 2009; Sijm et al., 2006)....
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531 citations
"Who bears the brunt? Distributional..." refers background in this paper
...For indirect emissions comprise a considerable share of households’ overall emissions, in some cases more than 50% (Druckman and Jackson, 2009: 2074; Reinders et al., 2003) whilst overall expenditure including consumer goods generally increases less than proportionally with income (see, for…...
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496 citations
"Who bears the brunt? Distributional..." refers background in this paper
...So far, relatively few studies use multivariate regression analysis to examine the relative impact of different socio-economic factors (Baiocchi et al., 2010; Brand and Preston, 2010; DEFRA, 2008a; Lenzen et al., 2006; Weber and Matthews, 2008)....
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...…the relative impact of different variables on household energy requirements (Lenzen et al., 2006: 192) or CO 2 emissions (Baiocchi et al., 2010: 63; Weber and Matthews, 2008: 384) found that expenditure or income was the most significant variable with positive effects on the dependent variable....
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473 citations
"Who bears the brunt? Distributional..." refers background in this paper
...Households with ‘economically inactive’(8) representatives (for example lone parents, unemployed people or pensioners) are also generally estimated to have low emissions (Brand and Preston, 2010; Druckman and Jackson, 2008)....
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...The trend towards smaller household sizes is therefore a driving factor behind increasing per capita emissions in many rich countries, particularly if indirect emissions are included (Druckman and Jackson, 2008: 3184)....
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...Households with ‘economically inactive’8 representatives (for example lone parents, unemployed people or pensioners) are also generally estimated to have low emissions (Brand and Preston, 2010; Druckman and Jackson, 2008)....
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...This means that low income households spend much higher shares of their income on home energy than richer households (Dresner and Ekins, 2006; Druckman and Jackson, 2008; Wier et al., 2005)....
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...…energy use is relatively evenly distributed across income deciles (at least in industrialized countries).3 This means that low income households spend much higher shares of their income on home energy than richer households (Dresner and Ekins, 2006; Druckman and Jackson, 2008; Wier et al., 2005)....
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441 citations
"Who bears the brunt? Distributional..." refers background in this paper
...So far, relatively few studies use multivariate regression analysis to examine the relative impact of different socio-economic factors (Baiocchi et al., 2010; Brand and Preston, 2010; DEFRA, 2008a; Lenzen et al., 2006; Weber and Matthews, 2008)....
[...]
...Three studies examining the relative impact of different variables on household energy requirements (Lenzen et al., 2006: 192) or CO 2 emissions (Baiocchi et al., 2010: 63; Weber and Matthews, 2008: 384) found that expenditure or income was the most significant variable with positive effects on the…...
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Frequently Asked Questions (14)
Q2. What are the future works in "Who bears the brunt? distributional effects of climate change mitigation policies" ?
However, there are several issues related to this which require further debate and research: i. Further research is required to identify the characteristics of low income groups at risk of losing out under lump-sum recycling arrangements. One possibility could be the application of ‘ contraction and convergence ’ ( Meyer, 2000 ) frameworks which envisage equal per capita allowances at a later point in time, thus implying less immediate redistributions between rich and poor nations. The literature indicates that, for a variety of reasons, there will still be a substantial proportion of lower income losers owing to high direct or indirect fossil fuel energy use under lump-sum recycling arrangements.
Q3. What are the main factors that influence the study results?
Study results are often influenced by the choice of country as climatic conditions, energy efficiency of the housing stock, level of car-ownership, public transport infrastructure, levels of poverty and income inequality and so on all make a difference to potential distributional effects.
Q4. What is the main reason for higher emissions in rural areas?
DEFRA (2008a: 4) claims, for example, that less access to mains gas (which has lower emissions per energy unit than any other fossil fuel) and less well insulated houses in rural areas are the main reasons for higher rural emissions, rather than greater dependency on cars.
Q5. How can initial emission budgets be allocated?
Initial emission budgets can be allocated to the participants in the scheme free of charge, through auctioning, or through a mix.
Q6. How many income groups would lose out under a cap and share scheme?
Several studies also report that even with full and equal per capita revenue recycling, that is an equal per capita payment to all citizens financed through the revenue from the emissions reduction policy, a substantial proportion of low income households would still lose out under such a scheme (DEFRA, 2008a: 3; Dresner and Ekins, 2004: 4; 2006: 55).
Q7. What is the main reason for increasing per capita emissions in many rich countries?
The trend towards smaller household sizes is therefore a driving factor behind increasing per capita emissions in many rich countries, particularly if indirect emissions are included (Druckman and Jackson, 2008: 3184).
Q8. What is the definition of revenue neutral?
If the entire revenue is earmarked to decrease/remove other taxes, the tax reform is termed ‘revenue neutral’, meaning that the costs of the new source of revenue are completely compensated through the reduction of other taxes or charges.
Q9. What is the main argument that regulation is less cost-efficient than market-based instruments?
It is frequently argued that regulation is less cost-efficient than market-based instruments because it does not reflect differing abatement costs of the various polluters.
Q10. What is the potential power of adverse public reactions to policies?
The potential power of adverse public reactions to policies is evident in the UK, for example, in the abandonment of the poll tax and more recently the fuel tax escalator.
Q11. How much of the UK’s emissions are indirect?
For indirect emissions comprise a considerable share of households’ overall emissions, in some cases more than 50% (Druckman and Jackson, 2009: 2074; Reinders et al., 2003) whilst overall expenditure including consumer goods generally increases less than proportionally with income (see, for example, ONS, 2009, table A9, for the UK case).
Q12. What is the effect of auctioning emission permits?
auctioning emission permits to the participants creates a revenue stream for the government or organization that issues the permits.
Q13. Why would international equal allowance and lump-sum rebate schemes be regressive?
This is because international equal allowance and lump-sum rebate schemes would be regressive in rich countries, and trigger an enormous transfer of resources from the developed to the less developed world.
Q14. What are the main reasons for the lack of public support for lump-sum rebates?
Whilst lump-sum rebates are likely to attract wide public support, they are likely to be opposed by (high emitting) wealthier people and businesses.