Foreword

This report was prepared by the Tax Policy and Statistics division in the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration under the auspices of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Environment Policy Committee. It is unique in its comprehensive approach, integrating carbon prices that result from taxes and emissions trading systems. It provides detailed effective carbon rates for 42 OECD and G20 countries in 2015 and 2012, as well as estimates of the effective carbon rates in 2018.

The report was drafted by Florens Flues and Kurt Van Dender. The database architecture was developed and updated by Luisa Dressler and Florens Flues. Information on emissions trading systems was collected and processed by Johanna Arlinghaus, Luisa Dressler, Florens Flues, Melanie Marten and Jonas Teusch. Carrie Tyler improved the presentation and the dissemination of the work. Michael Sharratt advised on graphical design and the implementation of new publication processes. All contributors are in the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, in the case of Jonas Teusch through a joint appointment with the Environment Directorate.

The authors would like to thank their colleagues Nils Axel Braathen and David Bradbury from the OECD for their very insightful feedback on earlier versions of the report.

The report was discussed by the OECD’s Joint Meetings of Tax and Environment Experts, and it was approved for declassification by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Environment Policy Committee. The authors would like to thank in particular the delegates to the Joint Meetings and their colleagues in supranational, national and subnational government administrations for their assistance with the provision of data, as well as for invaluable suggestions, inputs and comments received at various stages of preparing the data and the report.