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08/02/2024
Climate Report
Money, money, money: Financing plans for the climate transition
France should publish mid-year its first multi-annual strategy for financing the ecological transition. This is a long way from the first 2015 climate strategy, which barely touched funding aspects. And it is good news. We at I4CE believe that such plans are essential tools to support the transition to low-emission, climate-resilient economies. Credible, multi-year public spending targets help to embark the private sector and the funders of public action (debt holders, international donors) in the transition, and redirect financial flows as demanded by the Paris Agreement. Comprehensive financing plans also avoid simplistic approaches based on case-by-case project appraisal on the basis of limited cost-benefit considerations, which can ultimately result in significant additional costs.
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22/11/2023
Blog post
Carbon prices: the winds of change
After several years of strong growth, the revenue generated by carbon pricing mechanisms (carbon taxes or markets) worldwide, as reported in our 2023 edition of the Global Carbon Accounts, stabilized at nearly USD 100 billion. This stabilization could not be more deceptive. The future has rarely been so uncertain for carbon prices, caught between very strong opposing trends, and the next two years could mark a major turning point, for good or bad, for the use of these climate policy instruments worldwide.
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22/11/2023
Climate Brief
Global carbon accounts in 2023
What are the carbon taxes and markets around the world, the range of carbon prices, the revenues generated, the emissions covered by these mechanisms? Find the answers to these questions, and many more, in the new edition of the Global Carbon Accounts from I4CE.
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09/11/2022
Climate Report
The economic implications of the transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy: an LTS dashboard for Finance Ministers
Long term national climate strategies, such as Long-Term Strategies (LTS) published to the UNFCCC, are key documents developed by governments to envision the transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy at the 2050 (or later) time-horizon. As of the beginning of COP 27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 2022, 55 countries had submitted an LTS to the UNFCCC, answering renewed calls for countries to develop such strategies at COP 26. It is expected that additional LTS will be published shortly.
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21/09/2022
Climate Brief
Global carbon accounts in 2022
Carbon revenues were nearly USD 100 billion in 2021. This represents a more than 80% increase year-on-year (USD 53.1 billion in 2020, USD 97.7 billion in 2021). This increase is largely driven by the rise in allowance prices on the European carbon market, which exceeded the symbolic threshold of EUR 100/tCO2 for the first time in the summer of 2022.
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28/06/2022
Climate Report
Long-term strategy use for Paris-aligned investments
This I4CE report focuses on the role of countries’ Long-Term Strategies (LTSs) in the Paris alignment approaches of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). It explores the possible roles of both the LTS development process and the resulting LTS document in providing insights on the Paris alignment of investments within investment decision-making processes. The findings are relevant for a broader range of financial institutions.
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21/10/2021
Climate Report
Global Carbon Accounts in 2021
Explicit carbon pricing systems - a tax or a carbon market - continue to develop around the world. In the 2021 edition of its Global Carbon Accounts, I4CE presents the main trends and provides an overview of these public policies ...
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15/05/2020
Op-ed
The European carbon market put to the test by Covid
The current economic crisis has caused a drop in the price on the European carbon market (or EU ETS for European Union Emissions Trading System) and will contribute to the increase in the surplus of allowances. This highlights how necessary it is to reform the mechanism for managing this surplus or even to implement a floor price. However, for Charlotte Vailles from I4CE and Nicolas Berghmans from IDDRI, this crisis should lead us to consider the EU ETS no longer as the "cornerstone" of decarbonisation in Europe, but as a safety net.
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14/05/2020
Climate Brief
Global Carbon Account in 2020
Explicit carbon pricing systems - a tax or a carbon market - continue to develop around the world. In the 2020 edition of its Global Carbon Accounts, I4CE presents the main trends and provides an overview of these public policies: the countries that have adopted them, the sectors covered, the price levels, the revenues generated and what is being done with them. Find all this information in graphics.
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28/11/2019
Climate Brief
Key Figures on Climate – France, Europe, Worldwide
On the opening of the 25th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 25) which is held in Madrid from 2 to 13 December 2019, I4CE-Institute for Climate Economics and the French Ministry of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition are pleased to present the 2020 edition of Key Figures on climate – France, Europe, […]
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12/05/2019
Climate Brief
Carbon Tax : France can learn from foreign experiences to move forward
France is by no means the only country with difficulties – that is an understatement – in introducing an accepted carbon tax. And not the only one to have taken up the challenge of a public policy leading to higher energy prices for households and businesses. In 2018, the World Bank identified 29 countries or […]
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12/05/2019
Climate Brief
Global Carbon Account 2019
I4CE’s 2019 Global Carbon Accounts present the main trends in the implementation of global carbon pricing policies in 2019. 5 key trends in 2019 As of May 1, 2019, 25 carbon taxes and 26 Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) were operating worldwide. The jurisdictions covered by one or more explicit carbon price account for […]
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07/05/2019
2019 State of the EU ETS Report
Following the 2018 review of the European carbon market- the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS)- and the significant increase in the price of allowances, many stakeholders made the assumption that it was “fit for purpose” until 2030. However, the EU ETS needs to evolve as it adapts to new developments such as the implementation of […]
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17/12/2018
Blog post
COP24: the challenge of implementation
COP24 in Katowice just ended and was marked by the difficult adoption of a package of practical rules - the Katowice Climate Package - on transparency, the content of national contributions or their revision. It was also a COP marked by deep concerns about the willingness of Signatory Countries to increase their climate ambition in the coming years. Currently, countries' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will lead to global warming well above 2°C, the threshold above which our climate would jump into the unknown.
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03/12/2018
Blog post
I4CE at COP24 in Katowice, Poland: list of events and publications
The I4CE team will be present throughout the two weeks of negotiations, in order to present its latest achievements in about ten side-events, whether on carbon pricing, climate investment tracking, climate action by financial actors or carbon certification of innovative practices in the land sector. Please see below the full list of events organized by I4CE - or where I4CE will be participating.
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28/11/2018
Climate Report
A French-German cooperation agenda for the energy transition in Europe
This policy paper, a collaborative effort of four European think tanks, aims to help French, German and EU policy makers address current environmental, economic and societal challenges. It proposes eight concrete steps where active cooperation between France, Germany and other European countries could make decisive contributions to the Energy Union that benefit all European citizens: […]
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04/10/2018
Climate Brief
Carbon pricing across the world: how to efficiently spend growing revenues?
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 […]
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14/06/2018
Special issues
Full report – « Mind the gap »: Aligning the 2030 EU climate and energy policy framework to meet long-term climate goals
For a better coordination of climate and energy policies through the regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union. Following a policy brief in April 2018, I4CE and Enerdata publish the full study. The report analyzes interactions between EU energy and climate policies and proposes policy options to mitigate counteractive interactions and meet an […]
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19/04/2018
Special issues
2018 State of the EU ETS report
I4CE publishes the 2018 “State of the EU ETS” report, in partnership with ICTSD/ERCST, the University of Graz, Nomisma Energia and Ecoact. The report focuses on 5 key areas: Relevant Policy and Governance issues, including Phase 4 review Environmental delivery Economic efficiency and delivery, including protection against carbon leakage Market functioning Making the EU ETS […]
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17/04/2018
Climate Brief
Global Carbon Account 2018
I4CE‘s Global Carbon Account 2018 presents key trends regarding the implementation of explicit carbon pricing policies throughout the world in 2018. 5 key trends in 2018 (Too) Few jurisdictions have implemented an explicit carbon price : as of April 1, 2018, 46 countries and 26 provinces or cities have adopted carbon pricing policies ; […]