United Kingdom (UK)

Country indicators

GDP per capita - gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. (Source: World Bank)

GDP per capita
(USD):

45,379.0

Fossil fuel subsidies (USD, billions) - All consumer and producer pre-tax subsidies. Pre-tax consumer subsidies exist when energy consumers pay prices that are below the costs incurred to supply them with this energy. (Source: IMF)

Fossil fuel subsidies (USD, billions):

0.01

Fossil Fuel Subsidies as % of GDP - All consumer and producer pre-tax subsidies as percent of a country’s GDP. (Source: IMF)

Fossil fuel subsidies
(% of GDP):

0.0

Fossil Fuel Subsidies with externalities as % of GDP - All consumer and producer post-tax subsidies. Post-tax consumer subsidies exist if consumer prices for energy are below supply costs plus the efficient levels of taxation. (Source: IMF)

Fossil fuel subsidies with externalities (% of GDP):

1.50

Revenue from environmentally related taxes as % of GDP - All revenue from environmentally related taxes - defined as any compulsory, unrequited payment to general government levied on tax-bases deemed to be of particular environmental relevance – as percent of a country’s GDP. (Source: OECD)

Revenue from environmentally related taxes (% of GDP):

2.38

Carbon pricing gap - Measure of how much countries fall short of pricing carbon emissions in line with a EUR 60 benchmark value (midpoint estimate of the carbon costs in 2020 and a low-end estimate for 2030). The difference is presented as percentage: If the Effective Carbon Rate (ECR) on all emissions is at least as high as the benchmark, the gap is zero, and if the ECR is zero throughout, the gap is 100%. (Source: OECD)

Carbon Pricing Gap
(%):

56 News

A road map for motoring taxation (S. Adam and R. Stroud, 2019)

2019-11-08

Revenue from fuel duties peaked at 2.2% of national income in 1999–2000 in the UK. However, the duty-levels have since decreased, resulting in a revenue

Decades ago, a British economist created the framework for a carbon tax (Podcast)

2019-11-08

More than 100 years ago, British economist Arthur Cecil Pigou explained how to tax things like pollution. His insight on how to deal with negative

Three largest UK power generators urge the country’s Tresury “not to waver on carbon pricing”

2019-11-04

29 October 2019: The UK’s three largest power generators: SSE, Drax, and Orsted were joined by a climate change NGO Sandbag in an open letter

Reports

New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report 2019 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNEP, 2019)

2019-11-22

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme published the first annual New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report. Launched in 2018, the Global

Demand Recycled: Policy Options for Increasing the Demand for Post-Consumer Recycled Materials (Eunomia)

2018-12-06

A new report by Eunomia, an environmental consultancy, analyses a range of policy options to promote the use of more recycled materials. It investigates in

Reform Options: Initial Thinking – Rethinking Decarbonisation Incentives (Energy Systems Catapult)

2018-11-19

Creating a new trading scheme for all UK carbon emissions, setting standards for the carbon intensity of energy or taxing carbon like VAT. These are

Policy Briefs

Financing low-carbon growth and innovation in the UK Industrial Strategy (Grantham Research Institute)

2017-04-28

This policy brief by the Grantham Research Institute outlines how the public sector can crowd in private finance to support low-carbon growth and innovation in