Highlights of the United Nations Handbook on Carbon Taxation

This article explores some of the highlights of the United Handbook on Carbon Taxation, that was produced by the Subcommittee on Environmental Taxation under the mandate of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters. The article analyses the existing international environmental agreements and the principles of international environmental law that provide the legal backdrop for the development of a carbon tax approach. It further considers the conceptual dimension of the terminology employed to frame carbon taxes. In doing so, the article points to three main conceptual lacunes in this field, namely, the absence of international consensus on the definition currently employed for carbon pricing, environmental taxation, and fossil fuel subsidies. At the same time, it highlights the breakthrough definition put forward by the Committee for “carbon taxation”, the first of its kind, even if only for the purposes of the Handbook. Besides providing a thorough review of the main policy approaches put forward in the Handbook in forwarding a carbon tax, the article also explores forward looking areas where further work can be done. Such areas include the application of carbon taxation in niche markets like aviation and maritime transport