IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i23p10542-d1534420.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing the Effectiveness of Carbon Pricing Instruments in Reducing Carbon Emissions in Major Asian Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Finley

    (School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China)

  • Wei He

    (Faculty of Innovation Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China)

  • Hui Huang

    (Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong SAR, China)

  • Chitin Hon

    (Faculty of Innovation Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR, China)

Abstract

Carbon Pricing Instruments (CPIs), such as Carbon Taxes and Emission Trading Schemes (ETSs), have been launched in several countries, primarily in Europe and North America, as a means of limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) which have been known to cause climate change. The adoption of these measures in Asia has been controversial, with many arguing that they would limit economic development in the region. We review the CPIs of 18 Asian economies, 7 of which have adopted a CPI during our review period from 1990 to 2021. We perform a comparative analysis of the economies in Asia, applying the Kaya Identity to decompose the variables affecting carbon emissions and the Nearest Neighbor Matching technique to compare the effect that CPIs have on countries adopting these policies relative to other jurisdictions. We found a positive and significant effect of CPIs on reducing carbon emissions in the Asian countries compared in our study. This offers crucial insights for policymakers, stressing the effectiveness of CPIs in balancing environmental sustainability with economic development in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Finley & Wei He & Hui Huang & Chitin Hon, 2024. "Analyzing the Effectiveness of Carbon Pricing Instruments in Reducing Carbon Emissions in Major Asian Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10542-:d:1534420
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10542/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10542/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asian Development Bank (ADB) & Asian Development Bank (ADB) & Asian Development Bank (ADB) & Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2015. "Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Indonesia: Trends, Impacts, and Reforms," ADB Reports RPT157694-2, Asian Development Bank (ADB).
    2. Ashina, Shuichi & Nakata, Toshihiko, 2008. "Energy-efficiency strategy for CO2 emissions in a residential sector in Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(2-3), pages 101-114, February.
    3. Congdon, William J. & Kling, Jeffrey R. & Mullainathan, Sendhil, 2009. "Behavioral Economics and Tax Policy," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(3), pages 375-386, September.
    4. Erik Haites, 2018. "Carbon taxes and greenhouse gas emissions trading systems: what have we learned?," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(8), pages 955-966, September.
    5. Robert N. Stavins, 2022. "The Relative Merits of Carbon Pricing Instruments: Taxes versus Trading," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 62-82.
    6. Wang, Huiqing & Wei, Weixian, 2020. "Coordinating technological progress and environmental regulation in CO2 mitigation: The optimal levels for OECD countries & emerging economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    7. Dennis W. Carlton & Glenn C. Loury, 1980. "The Limitations of Pigouvian Taxes as a Long-Run Remedy for Externalities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(3), pages 559-566.
    8. Sen, Suphi & Vollebergh, Herman, 2018. "The effectiveness of taxing the carbon content of energy consumption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 74-99.
    9. Cristian Alonso & Mr. Joey Kilpatrick, 2022. "The Distributional Impact of a Carbon Tax in Asia and the Pacific," IMF Working Papers 2022/116, International Monetary Fund.
    10. van Ruijven, Bas J. & van Vuuren, Detlef P. & van Vliet, Jasper & Mendoza Beltran, Angelica & Deetman, Sebastiaan & den Elzen, Michel G.J., 2012. "Implications of greenhouse gas emission mitigation scenarios for the main Asian regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S3), pages 459-469.
    11. Daniel Moran & Richard Wood & Edgar Hertwich & Kim Mattson & Joao F. D. Rodriguez & Karin Schanes & John Barrett, 2020. "Quantifying the potential for consumer-oriented policy to reduce European and foreign carbon emissions," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(S1), pages 28-38, April.
    12. Peter Erickson & Adrian Down & Michael Lazarus & Doug Koplow, 2017. "Effect of subsidies to fossil fuel companies on United States crude oil production," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(11), pages 891-898, November.
    13. Jiaping Xie & Jing Li & Ling Liang & Xu Fang & Guang Yang & Lihong Wei, 2020. "Contracting Emissions Reduction Supply Chain Based on Market Low-Carbon Preference and Carbon Intensity Constraint," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 37(02), pages 1-34, March.
    14. Jessica Jewell & David McCollum & Johannes Emmerling & Christoph Bertram & David E. H. J. Gernaat & Volker Krey & Leonidas Paroussos & Loïc Berger & Kostas Fragkiadakis & Ilkka Keppo & Nawfal Saadi & , 2018. "Limited emission reductions from fuel subsidy removal except in energy-exporting regions," Nature, Nature, vol. 554(7691), pages 229-233, February.
    15. Stefano Carattini & Maria Carvalho & Sam Fankhauser, 2018. "Overcoming public resistance to carbon taxes," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(5), September.
    16. Assaad Ghazouani & Wanjun Xia & Mehdi Ben Jebli & Umer Shahzad, 2020. "Exploring the Role of Carbon Taxation Policies on CO 2 Emissions: Contextual Evidence from Tax Implementation and Non-Implementation European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
    18. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production: I--Production Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 8-27, March.
    19. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    20. Saveyn, Bert & Paroussos, Leonidas & Ciscar, Juan-Carlos, 2012. "Economic analysis of a low carbon path to 2050: A case for China, India and Japan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(S3), pages 451-458.
    21. Tan, Xiujie & Wang, Rui & Choi, Yongrok & Lee, Hyoungsuk, 2024. "Does Korea's carbon emissions trading scheme enhance efficiency for sustainable energy and utilities?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    22. Pinglin He & Jing Ning & Zhongfu Yu & Hao Xiong & Huayu Shen & Hui Jin, 2019. "Can Environmental Tax Policy Really Help to Reduce Pollutant Emissions? An Empirical Study of a Panel ARDL Model Based on OECD Countries and China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-32, August.
    23. Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "Large Sample Properties of Matching Estimators for Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 235-267, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Heider, Florian & Inderst, Roman, 2021. "A Corporate Finance Perspective on Environmental Policy," EconStor Preprints 253669, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Ferriere, Axelle, 2020. "Comments on “Capital income taxation with housing”," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Khaddage-Soboh, Nada & Safi, Adnan & Faisal Rasheed, Muhammad & Hasnaoui, Amir, 2023. "Examining the role of natural resource rent, environmental regulations, and environmental taxes in sustainable development: Evidence from G-7 economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    4. Emmanuel Farhi & Xavier Gabaix, 2020. "Optimal Taxation with Behavioral Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(1), pages 298-336, January.
    5. O'Donoghue, Ted & Rabin, Matthew, 2006. "Optimal sin taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1825-1849, November.
    6. Alan J. Auerbach, 2006. "The Future of Capital Income Taxation," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 399-420, December.
    7. Börjesson, Maria & Asplund, Disa & Hamilton, Carl, 2021. "Optimal kilometre tax for electric passenger cars," Working Papers 2021:3, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI).
    8. Parry, Ian W.H., 2008. "How should heavy-duty trucks be taxed?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 651-668, March.
    9. Tim Besley & Rohini Pande, 1998. "Read my lips: the political economy of information transmission," IFS Working Papers W98/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Alberto Gago & Xavier Labandeira & Xiral López Otero, 2014. "A Panorama on Energy Taxes and Green Tax Reforms," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 208(1), pages 145-190, March.
    11. Jaume Sempere, 2022. "On potential Pareto gains from free trade areas formation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(6), pages 1502-1518, December.
    12. da Costa, Carlos E. & Pereira, Thiago, 2014. "On the efficiency of equal sacrifice income tax schedules," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 399-418.
    13. Christian Keuschnigg, 2008. "Corporate Taxation and the Welfare State," Working Papers 0813, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    14. Juan Pablo Gama & Rodrigo J. Raad, 2023. "Large public expenditure shocks in a Ramsey taxation model with default," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 665, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    15. Richter, Wolfram F., 2009. "Taxing education in Ramsey's tradition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1254-1260, December.
    16. Takuya Obara & Yoshitomo Ogawa, 2024. "Optimal taxation in an endogenous fertility model with non-cooperative behavior," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 173-197, March.
    17. Stéphane Gauthier & Guy Laroque, 2019. "Production efficiency and profit taxation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 52(2), pages 215-223, February.
    18. Eirini Andriopoulou & Eleni Kanavitsa & Chrysa Leventi, 2020. "The distributional impact of recurrent immovable property taxation in Greece," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 44(4), pages 505-528.
    19. Brita Bye & Karine Nyborg, 1999. "The Welfare Effects of Carbon Policies: Grandfathered Quotas versus Differentiated Taxes," Discussion Papers 261, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    20. Dan Usher, 2006. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds Is the Ratio of Mean Income to Median Income," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(6), pages 687-711, November.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10542-:d:1534420. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.