The Spatial Incidence of a Carbon Tax in Ireland

We estimate carbon dioxide emissions for the 3401 electoral districts of the Republic of Ireland combining data from the Census, the Household Budget Survey, the National Accounts, Environmental Accounts, and the Labour Accounts. The source data is available for many countries, but we are not aware of other studies that combine these data to estimate the spatial incidence of environmental regulation. For consumption, currently regulated emissions are reasonably uniform over space, while currently unregulated emissions vary much more substantially and are spatially concentrated in the commuter belts. This suggests that new regulation may run into local opposition. The incidence of a carbon tax correlates negatively with votes for the Green Party in the 2007 general election. Emissions from production are clustered around the cities but the spatial pattern is dominated by a small number of point sources (which are already regulated). Consumption emissions dominate total emissions in suburbs and the countryside. Production emissions dominate total emissions in the towns and cities as well as in those electoral districts that have a point source of carbon dioxide.