Copenhagen Economics has conducted a study on the use of economic instruments in Nordic environmental policy for The Nordic Council of Ministers.

The report is part of a series, and contains – in addition to the topics of the previous reports – a thematic issue on environmentally harmful subsidies.

Main conclusions are:

• Energy taxes in the Nordic countries are increasingly used to promote the use of environmentally friendly cars, enhance energy savings, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of domestic energy resources.
• Changes in the ETS scheme have affected all the Nordic countries, and ETS is now the primary economic instrument to curb GHG emissions.
• Instruments used to reach other environmental targets, such as waste reduction and marine preservation, have remained relatively unchanged over the past 4-5 years, or have seen small changes.
• By combining the (quantitative) impacts on the environment and the fiscal budget, it is possible to single out which environmentally harmful subsidies could be reformed to generate positive effects in both areas, and thus be politically possible to reform.

Download the full report from The Nordic Council of Minister’s website

For further information, please contact Partner Sigurd Næss-Schmidt