Thread by @mmbuchs

Our new paper out today 👇📢

doi.org/10.1088/1748-9…:
Ever thought “Wouldn’t it be good if we could all get a basic amount of free renewable electricity and public transport”? Turns out this would significantly reduce emissions, be redistributive and reduce energy poverty

Published in Environmental Research Letters. Four min video abstract here:

We start by asking: how can carbon taxes be made fairer? Carbon taxes on home energy and motor fuels tend to be regressive, putting higher burdens on poorer than on richer households relative to income which is not fair

The paper then compares emission reductions, distributional and fuel & transport poverty impacts of equal per capita tax rebates and equal per capita vouchers for renewable electricity and public transport

Equal per capita tax rebates can be seen as a "mini" universal basic income, and green vouchers as a form of universal basic services. The vouchers could be tradable to increase flexibility

The paper uses EU Household Budget Survey data from 27 European countries and emission data from Exiobase for these calculations. Results shown here are averages for the 27 countries

Carbon taxes achieve some, but relatively small emission reductions, consistent with the literature. Tax rebates negate part of these reductions because cash is being spent back into the economy without changes in the carbon intensity of spending (in our model)

In contrast, green vouchers with additional investments into renewable electricity generation and public transport would lead to significant emission reductions

Both the tax rebates and the green vouchers are redistributive and reverse regressive impacts of carbon taxes. They benefit poorer people more than richer people

Taxes and tax rebates increase fuel and transport poverty (based on Hills and @giulio_mattioli's definitions). Green vouchers reduce fuel and transport poverty because they reduce expenditure on these items. They also reduce poverty more generally

Conclusion: climate policies need to address environmental and social objectives at the same time. Providing people directly with renewable electricity and public transport can be more beneficial from environmental and social perspectives compared to just giving people back cash

Many thanks to @CREDS_UK and @MSCActions for funding

Perhaps of interest @CUSP_uk @martiskainen @stefanbuzar @greensociology @TimGoedeme @espa @k_bohnenberger @JournalESP @BenjaminSovaco1 @jenk2021 @NEF @APercy_LIFE @glo_pro @SocialGuarantee @AdrianRamsay @CarolineLucas @WEAll_Alliance @KTrebeck @JanooAmanda @zoe_institut