This quasi-experimental study is the first to find a significant causal effect of carbon taxes on emissions, empirically analyzing the implementation of a carbon tax and a value-added tax on transport fuel in Sweden. After implementation, carbon dioxide emissions from transport declined almost 11 percent, with the largest share due to the carbon tax alone, relative to a synthetic control unit constructed from a comparable group of OECD countries. Furthermore, the carbon tax elasticity of demand for gasoline is three times larger than the price elasticity. Policy evaluations of carbon taxes, using price elasticities to simulate emission reductions, may thus significantly underestimate their true effect.

We assess industrial policy’s role in decarbonization by examining the expansion of nuclear energy in France following the 1973 oil crisis. Within a decade, France initiated construction of 51 new reactors. This resulted in a 62 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and heat production, and over 20 percent reduction in total CO2 emissions. Emission reductions began six years after policy announcement, with an average abatement cost of -$20 per metric ton of CO2. We show that the government's ability to insulate the policymaking process from opponents was crucial for the political success of the reform.

We present a simple model that shows how the two parameters of income inequality and the income elasticity of demand determine changes in the distributional effect of a consumption tax; with rising inequality increasing the regressivity of a consumption tax on necessities. We test the model's predictions by analysing the Swedish carbon tax on transport fuel. We find that the tax is increasingly regressive over time, which is highly correlated with a rise in income inequality, and that the distributional effect moves from regressive to progressive when switching from annual income to the more evenly distributed measure of lifetime income.

Livestock products are responsible for just under 15 percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and are thereby a major contributor to climate change. Furthermore, estimated emission reductions from improved productivity and livestock management will be cancelled out by growth in livestock numbers since global demand for animal food products is estimated to almost double by 2050. Consequently, a more efficient mitigation approach is to reduce emissions through efforts to lower consumption. This study analyses the climate change mitigation potential, welfare, and distributional effects of a greenhouse gas consumption tax on animal food products in Sweden. The results show that a tax set at the level of 1180 SEK ($130) per ton of carbon dioxide equivalents will reduce annual emissions from food consumption by 6-10 percent depending on the number of animal food products that are taxed. Additionally, the distributional effect will be proportional when measured against lifetime income but regressive when measured against annual income, and with diverse impacts on changes in diets dependent on disposable income. These findings indicate that the tax will be environmentally efficient but how it is implemented is crucial for its acceptance among the general public.