‘Green tax may mean end to polluters’ profits’

GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA – 23/07/2010

This article in China’s Global Times highlights the confirmation by the deputy head of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection that ministries are collaborating on an environmental tax, and it is expected that some local governments in Hubei, Beijing and Jiangxi will pilot this policy instrument soon. It does, however, question whether the so-called double dividend of a carbon tax would be realised in China, highlighting that China lacks the necessary quantitative and economically optimised design of taxation, and the pressure to create one. China does already have a number of pollutant charges, but these are not considered effective in curbing environmentally damaging activities, and are often mired by close ties between powerful polluting companies and local government, who are charged with enforcement. Read the article…

‘Carbon tax likely, expert forecasts’

CHINA DAILY – 10/05/2010

Jiang Kejun, Senior Researcher with the Energy Research Institute in China, has predicted that China will start levying a carbon tax and increasing fossil fuel prices for the next five years in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and may also levy other environmental and resource taxes. At the same time, China will dramatically increase subsidies in support of low-carbon technology R&D. Wind power, solar energy, biomass and electric vehicles are thought to be the preferred investments. Read the article…

‘Carbon tax could help China head off tariff threat’

REUTERS – 16/11/09

This article discusses the merits of introducing a carbon tax in China. In light of the increasing debate about the feasibility of using border tax adjustments as a means of allaying competitiveness concerns amongst countries that are considering the introduction of a carbon tax, this article suggests China may fare better by introducing its own carbon tax rather than having to pay the tariffs that would be imposed on the costs of their exports. At the very least, their own carbon tax would give China control over the revenues. The article also highlights the irony that part of the growth in emissions from China, the world’s top carbon dioxide polluter, is caused by consumer demand for cheaper Chinese goods in the US and other relatively wealthy nations. Read the article…

‘Government proposes introduction of ‘green tax’’

CHINAPOST – 04/08/09

A Chinese Cabinet-level tax reform committee has proposed that the government impose a green tax from 2011 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in China. The proposal, much opposed among business leaders, would enable the Chinese government to levy an energy tax and an environmental tax on high energy users and environmental polluters in efforts to cut emissions. It is estimated that, by the tenth year of the tax’s introduction, the government will have received tax revenues of NT$810.1billion. The energy tax would be tied to the production and consumption of fossil and nuclear energy, while the environmental tax would target the production of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution of the air, surface and underground water, land and ocean regions. It is suggested that this will be accompanied by a number of ‘non-tax tools’ to discourage carbon emissions from industry. According to Daigee Shaw (president of the Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research), under a ‘financially independent’ model, added revenues that the government collects via the green taxation system could be used to finance the overhaul of outdated taxation systems, the operations of mass rapid transport systems, and research on energy conservation and emissions reductions. Read the article…

‘China joins carbon tax protest’

THE FINANCIAL TIMES – 03/07/09

Beijing has joined in the growing level of protest about US plans for a carbon tax on imports from countries without their own emissions reductions commitments. This follows the passage of a cap-and-trade bill in the US House of Representatives, which has yet to move to the Senate. Yao Jian, spokesman for China’s ministry of commerce, said ‘it has always been China’s position that the international society should fight climate change together, but the proposal of some developed countries to slap a carbon tariff on some imported products violates the WTO’s basic principles and is trade protectionism in the disguise of environmental protection’. Mr Yao also emphasised that it could ‘severely harm developing countries’ interests’. Read the article…

The True Cost of Coal – New Report

THE GUARDIAN – 27/10/08

A new report published by Greenpeace, the WWF and The Energy Foundation, has found that China’s main source of power is so destructive that its social and environmental impact costs £160bn annually. The report catalogues the effects of the coal industry across a wide range of areas and suggests that government could ensure these costs are internalised through imposing environmental and energy taxes, improving compensation schemes and other restructuring of the coal industry. Pages 48 – 51 of the report explore the tax proposals in more detail. Read the article…