IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zen/wpaper/65.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade in Carbon and the Effectiveness of Carbon Tariffs

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Böhringer

    (University of Oldenburg - Economic Policy; Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW))

  • Jan Schneider

    (University of Oldenburg)

  • Emmanuel Asane-Otoo

    (University of Oldenburg)

Abstract

Carbon-based import tariffs are discussed as policy measures to reduce carbon leakage and increase the global cost-effectiveness of unilateral CO2 emission pricing. We assess how the potential of carbon tariffs to increase cost-effectiveness of unilateral climate policy depends on the magnitude and composition of carbon embodied in trade. For our assessment, we combine multi-region input-output (MRIO) analysis with computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis based on data from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) for the period 1995 to 2007. The MRIO analysis confirms that carbon embodied in trade has sharply increased during this period. Yet, the CGE analysis suggests that the effectiveness of carbon tariffs in reducing leakage and improving global-cost effectiveness of unilateral climate policy does not increase over time, whereas the potential to shift the economic burden of CO2 emissions reduction from abating developed regions to non-abating developing regions increases substantially.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Böhringer & Jan Schneider & Emmanuel Asane-Otoo, 2016. "Trade in Carbon and the Effectiveness of Carbon Tariffs," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 65 / 2016, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies, revised Sep 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:zen:wpaper:65
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2837699
    File Function: First version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christoph Böhringer & Jared C. Carbone & Thomas F. Rutherford, 2016. "The Strategic Value of Carbon Tariffs," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 28-51, February.
    2. Krichene, Noureddine, 2002. "World crude oil and natural gas: a demand and supply model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 557-576, November.
    3. Christoph Böhringer & Jared C. Carbone & Thomas F. Rutherford, 2018. "Embodied Carbon Tariffs," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(1), pages 183-210, January.
    4. Weitzel, Matthias & Hübler, Michael & Peterson, Sonja, 2012. "Fair, optimal or detrimental? Environmental vs. strategic use of border carbon adjustment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S2), pages 198-207.
    5. Peterson, Everett B. & Schleich, Joachim, 2007. "Economic and environmental effects of border tax adjustments," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S1/2007, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    6. Christoph Böhringer & Brita Bye & Taran Fæhn & Knut Einar Rosendahl, 2015. "Targeted carbon tariffs. Carbon leakage and welfare effects," Discussion Papers 805, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    7. Hoel, Michael, 1991. "Global environmental problems: The effects of unilateral actions taken by one country," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 55-70, January.
    8. Ghosh, Madanmohan & Luo, Deming & Siddiqui, Muhammad Shahid & Zhu, Yunfa, 2012. "Border tax adjustments in the climate policy context: CO2 versus broad-based GHG emission targeting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S2), pages 154-167.
    9. Böhringer, Christoph & Fischer, Carolyn & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2014. "Cost-effective unilateral climate policy design: Size matters," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 318-339.
    10. Marshall B. Reinsdorf, 2010. "Terms Of Trade Effects: Theory And Measurement," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(s1), pages 177-205, June.
    11. Böhringer, Christoph & Balistreri, Edward J. & Rutherford, Thomas F., 2012. "The role of border carbon adjustment in unilateral climate policy: Overview of an Energy Modeling Forum study (EMF 29)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S2), pages 97-110.
    12. Ringlund, Guro Bornes & Rosendahl, Knut Einar & Skjerpen, Terje, 2008. "Does oilrig activity react to oil price changes An empirical investigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 371-396, March.
    13. Monjon, Stéphanie & Quirion, Philippe, 2011. "Addressing leakage in the EU ETS: Border adjustment or output-based allocation?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1957-1971, September.
    14. Felder Stefan & Rutherford Thomas F., 1993. "Unilateral CO2 Reductions and Carbon Leakage: The Consequences of International Trade in Oil and Basic Materials," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 162-176, September.
    15. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7346 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Branger, Frédéric & Quirion, Philippe, 2014. "Would border carbon adjustments prevent carbon leakage and heavy industry competitiveness losses? Insights from a meta-analysis of recent economic studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 29-39.
    17. repec:zbw:hohpro:340 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Marcel P. Timmer & Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los & Robert Stehrer & Gaaitzen J. Vries, 2015. "An Illustrated User Guide to the World Input–Output Database: the Case of Global Automotive Production," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 575-605, August.
    19. Simon Koesler & Michael Schymura, 2015. "Substitution Elasticities In A Constant Elasticity Of Substitution Framework - Empirical Estimates Using Nonlinear Least Squares," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 101-121, March.
    20. Fischer, Carolyn & Fox, Alan K., 2012. "Comparing policies to combat emissions leakage: Border carbon adjustments versus rebates," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 199-216.
    21. Christoph Böhringer & Thomas Rutherford, 2002. "Carbon Abatement and International Spillovers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 22(3), pages 391-417, July.
    22. Christoph Bohringer & Jared Carbone & Thomas F. Rutherford, "undated". "Embodied Carbon Tariffs," Working Papers 2013-24, Department of Economics, University of Calgary, revised 11 Oct 2013.
    23. Graham, Paul & Thorpe, Sally & Hogan, Lindsay, 1999. "Non-competitive market behaviour in the international coking coal market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 195-212, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Changjiang & Yan, Xiaoxuan, 2023. "Impact of carbon tariffs on price competitiveness in the era of global value chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    2. Thomas Kuhn & Radomir Pestow & Anja Zenker, 2019. "Building Climate Coalitions on Preferential Free Trade Agreements," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(2), pages 539-569, October.
    3. Lien-Chieh Lee & Yuan Wang & Yuanyuan Yan & Jian Zuo, 2018. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Embodied in the Chinese International Trade of Computer Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christoph Böhringer & Jan Schneider & Emmanuel Asane-Otoo, 2021. "Trade in Carbon and Carbon Tariffs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(4), pages 669-708, April.
    2. Christoph Böhringer & Knut Einar Rosendahl & Halvor Storrøsten, 2021. "Smart hedging against carbon leakage [An overview of the GTAP 9 data base]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 36(107), pages 439-484.
    3. Böhringer, Christoph & Garcia-Muros, Xaquin & Gonzalez-Eguino, Mikel & Rey, Luis, 2017. "US climate policy: A critical assessment of intensity standards," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(S1), pages 125-135.
    4. Böhringer, Christoph & Fischer, Carolyn & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2014. "Cost-effective unilateral climate policy design: Size matters," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 318-339.
    5. Bellora, Cecilia, 2020. "Carbon Border Adjustment and Alternatives," Conference papers 333210, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Christoph Böhringer & André Müller & Jan Schneider, 2015. "Carbon Tariffs Revisited," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 629-672.
    7. Böhringer, Christoph & Lange, Andreas & Rutherford, Thomas F., 2014. "Optimal emission pricing in the presence of international spillovers: Decomposing leakage and terms-of-trade motives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 101-111.
    8. Achim Hagen & Jan Schneider, 2017. "Boon or Bane? Trade Sanctions and the Stability of InternationalEnvironmental Agreements," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 75 / 2017, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies.
    9. Jonathon M. Becker & Jared C. Carbone & Andreas Loeschel, 2022. "Induced Innovation and Carbon Leakage," Working Papers 2022-04, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    10. Ernst, Anne & Hinterlang, Natascha & Mahle, Alexander & Stähler, Nikolai, 2022. "Carbon pricing, border adjustment and climate clubs: An assessment with EMuSe," Discussion Papers 25/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    11. Ernst, Anne & Hinterlang, Natascha & Mahle, Alexander & Stähler, Nikolai, 2023. "Carbon pricing, border adjustment and climate clubs: Options for international cooperation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Jared C. Carbone & Nicholas Rivers, 2014. "Climate policy and competitiveness: Policy guidance and quantitative evidence," Working Papers 2014-05, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    13. Christoph Böhringer & Jared C. Carbone & Thomas F. Rutherford, 2016. "The Strategic Value of Carbon Tariffs," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 28-51, February.
    14. Susanne Droege & Carolyn Fischer, 2020. "Pricing Carbon at the Border: Key Questions for the EU," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 18(01), pages 30-34, April.
    15. Böhringer, Christoph & Bye, Brita & Fæhn, Taran & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2017. "Targeted carbon tariffs: Export response, leakage and welfare," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 51-73.
    16. Bellora, Cecilia & Fontagné, Lionel, 2023. "EU in search of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    17. Perdana, Sigit & Vielle, Marc, 2022. "Making the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism acceptable and climate friendly for least developed countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    18. Böhringer, Christoph & Garcia-Muros, Xaquin & Cazcarro, Ignacio & Arto, Iñaki, 2017. "The efficiency cost of protective measures in climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 446-454.
    19. Branger, Frédéric & Quirion, Philippe, 2014. "Would border carbon adjustments prevent carbon leakage and heavy industry competitiveness losses? Insights from a meta-analysis of recent economic studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 29-39.
    20. Christoph Bohringer & Knut Einar Rosendahl & Jan Schneider, 2014. "Unilateral Climate Policy: Can OPEC Resolve the Leakage Problem?," The Energy Journal, , vol. 35(4), pages 79-100, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon tariffs; unilateral climate policy; computable general;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D57 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Input-Output Tables and Analysis
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zen:wpaper:65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Finn Marten Koerner (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zentrde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.