The Global NDC Conference 2019 – Green Fiscal Policy Session

The Global NDC Conference took place in Berlin between the 12 and the 14 of June 2019. The aim of the Conference is to inspire and enable policy makers and practitioners to accelerate the pace and scale of transformational change through NDC implementation in order to reach the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. A session dedicated to green fiscal policies focused on creating mitigation incentives and mobilizing revenues for climate action through environmental taxes and subsidy reform. The session highlighted how the use of environmental taxes and the reduction of harmful subsidies can help shift consumer and business behavior towards low-carbon patterns and leverage private financing for green investment; at the same time creating fiscal space that may be used to finance countries’ NDC commitments. Depending on the countries’ legal set-up, this can be done for example by redirecting revenues – either for a designated public fund or particular spending programs, or by using the surplus revenue potential gained through fiscal reform to expand spending on climate and environment action. The panel explored both the mitigation and the financing potential of green fiscal policy and discussed administrative, legal and political economy aspects for the linking of the two objectives. Two case studies – Colombia and Costa Rica – demonstrated how fiscal reforms could effectively mobilize public finances for green investment, while addressing environmental and social externalities.   The presentation on the Colombian Carbon Tax, delivered by Johana Pinzón Téllez, is available through this link. The presentation on “the use of revenues from carbon pricing“, delivered by Melanie Marten and Kurt Van Dender from the OECD, is available through this link. The breakout Session on “Green fiscal policies’: creating mitigation incentives and mobilizing revenues for climate action through environmental taxes and subsidy reform“, delivered by Eike Meyer from GIZ, is available through this link. The presentation on the case of Costa Rica, delivered by Héctor Arce-Benavides, the National Director of REDD + Strategy, is available through this link. The presentation on “Green fiscal policy: Reducing GHG emissions and mobilizing revenue“, delivered by Jacqueline Cottrell, the Vice President of Green Budget Europe, is available through this link.