Carbon pricing across the world: how to efficiently spend growing revenues?

4 October 2018 - Climate Brief - By : Clément METIVIER / Sébastien POSTIC, Phd

This climate brief highlights that while there is an acceleration of carbon pricing policy implementation, associated revenues are on the rise (USD 32 billion in 2017). This increase raises the issue of the use of revenues.

I4CE distinguishes between 4 main uses of carbon revenues:

  • Investment in low-carbon projects;
  • Allocation to the general budget;
  • Reduction of other taxes;
  • Direct payment of premiums or subsidies.

Several dimensions must be considered when assessing the relevance of revenue use, and there is no silver bullet for an optimal revenue spending. I4CE shows that to maximize the acceptability and performance of carbon pricing schemes, transparency and discussions are key issues to address.

Carbon pricing across the world: how to efficiently spend growing revenues? Download
I4CE Contacts
Sébastien POSTIC, Phd
Sébastien POSTIC, Phd
Research Fellow – Public finance, Development Email
To learn more
  • 09/03/2025
    State of EU progress to climate neutrality – ECNO 2025 Flagship report

    Europe is making progress on the clean transition, but the pace is too slow across several parametres. ECNO’s analysis is structured around 13 building blocks of the transition, tracking changes in the six-year trend for nearly 150 indicators and also the expected impact of policies – a new addition to this year’s report. In the 2025 edition, we also analysed the changes through the lens of broader EU objectives, namely competitiveness, resilience, and citizens’ well-being. 

  • 06/25/2025
    French Observatory of access conditions to the ecological transition for households, 2025 Edition

    In this year’s edition, we assess these indicators retrospectively—over the past ten years for deep energy retrofits, and over the past five for electric mobility—to identify factors that have improved or worsened economic accessibility to transition solutions in recent years.

  • 06/06/2025 Foreword of the week
    Halfway to 2030, the EU needs a climate investment boost

    In a challenging geo-political context, Europe has a window of opportunity to lead on both climate action and industrial competitiveness. As Mario Draghi highlighted in his report last year, this can only happen if decarbonisation ambitions are backed by real investment – and there is an urgent need to boost those investment. The European Commission followed suit and pledged to be an “Investment Commission,” while reaffirming its commitment to implement the 2030 emission reduction targets and to stay to course on the longer-term targets.

See all publications
Press contact Amélie FRITZ Head of Communication and press relations Email
Subscribe to our mailing list :
I register !
Subscribe to our newsletter
Once a week, receive all the information on climate economics
I register !
Fermer