1887

OECD Economics Department Working Papers

Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.

The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.

Anglais, Français

Carbon prices, emissions and international trade in sectors at risk of carbon leakage

Evidence from 140 countries

What is the effect of recent carbon price developments on domestic emissions and carbon leakage? This paper first develops a comprehensive plant-level carbon pricing dataset for key heavy industries at risk of carbon leakage, i.e. aluminium, cement and steel plants in 140 countries, drawing on satellite observations. The new dataset reveals that the average plant-level carbon price for these sectors increased by a factor of seven from USD 1.4 per tonne of CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) in January 2015 to USD 11/tCO2e in December 2021. Over the same time period, carbon price asymmetries i.e. the average difference in carbon prices among trading partners, increased by more than 350%. The paper then tests whether higher carbon prices have reduced plant-level emissions and whether rising carbon price asymmetries have affected international trade and led to carbon leakage. Results suggest that, on average, a USD 1/tCO2e increase in carbon prices reduces cement and steel plants’ emissions by 1.3%. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that carbon leakage through international trade offset around 13% of these domestic emission reductions.

Anglais

Mots-clés: industrial decarbonisation, carbon pricing, carbon leakage, emissions trading, climate policy
JEL: F18: International Economics / Trade / Trade and Environment; C23: Mathematical and Quantitative Methods / Single Equation Models; Single Variables / Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models; Q41: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Energy / Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices; H23: Public Economics / Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies; Q54: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming; Q48: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Energy / Energy: Government Policy
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error