Taking into account the emissions from the production and use of mineral fertilizers by imposing a ‘carbon tax’

Production and application of mineral fertilizers are associated with GHG emissions. The EU pursues an active policy of GHG emissions mitigation. One of the instruments of this policy is the EU ETS. Due to the inclusion of ammonia and nitric acid production into the list of activities covered by the EU ETS, the production of mineral fertilizers would be burdened with a “carbon tax”. If the emissions from the application of fertilizers to agricultural soils would be considered, the rate of a “carbon tax” would double. In this paper the impact of a “carbon tax” on the production and use of mineral fertilizers in the EU is analysed with the GTAP model. The analysis requires a separate treatment of the fertilizer industry. Therefore, the “Chemical, Rubber and Plastic products” sector (“crp”) of the GTAP database was split and a new sector representing the fertilizer industry (“FERT”) was introduced. Further, the production structure was modified to introduce the substitution possibility between the land and the fertilizers by crop production. This is done with regard to the fact that a reduced fertilization in the EU due to a “carbon taxation” on fertilizers could only be compensated by either an agricultural land extension or an intensification of crop production abroad. The preliminary results show, that a “carbon tax” on fertilizers in the EU can slightly reduce the GHG emissions of the EU. However, due to an increase in the imports of fertilizers / decrease in the exports of fertilizers and an increase in the imports of grains / decrease in the exports of grains the “carbon leakage” effect takes place. To answer whether a reduction of GHG emissions on the global level takes place, the indirectly induced GHG emissions abroad have to be considered.