Competitiveness Effects of Environmental Tax Reforms (COMETR): Final Report to the European Commission, DG Research and DG Taxation and Customs Union

COMETR provides an ex-post assessment of experiences and competitiveness impacts of using carbon/energy taxes as an instrument of an Environmental Tax Reform (ETR), which shifts the tax burden and helps reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming. COMETRreviews the experienceof ETR in seven EU Member States (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia, Sweden and UK); analyses world market conditions for a set of energy-intensive sectors, as a framework for considering competitiveness effects; analyses the effects of ETR on sector-specific energy usage and carbon emissions in Member States that introduced carbon/energy taxeson industry; presents a macroeconomic analysis of the competitiveness effects of ETR for individual Member States as well as for the EU as a whole; provides ex post figures for environmental decoupling and assesses carbon leakage; and finally, reviews mitigation and compensation mechanisms for energy-intensive industries.