ABSTRACT
Carbon pricing and taxation attract commentary and research from a variety of disciplines, including economics, public policy, environmental law, and energy law. Researchers face questions regarding whether the tools of carbon pricing and carbon taxation reduce carbon emissions and if so, whether through a fixed price on carbon, cap and trade mechanisms, or economy-wide taxation. The implementation of the Paris Agreement revisits both positive and negative effects of carbon taxes on welfare, and the public support of such taxation. This chapter surveys five states—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—and their individual use of taxation to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, using information from their nationally determined contributions, and the International Energy Agency’s Policies Database. The data from these five states is analyzed to provide insight into South-South cooperation under the Paris Agreement. The chapter also showcases the different kinds of taxes in various sectors being used in these countries to address carbon emissions. The analysis finds that due to the non-interference built into the cooperation among these five states, it has been difficult to achieve policy coordination similar to the European Union or the G20.
