A carbon tax, in simple terms, is a monetary fee for the environmental and economic impacts associated with the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A market-based tool, it operates by “charging” for the carbon content emitted when users burn fossil fuels, namely coal, oil, and natural gas. The main goal of a carbon tax is to make emitters accountable for their actions and internalize the external costs of carbon emissions (climate change, health consequences, and ecological impacts) within companies and organizations.
Carbon taxes can be a powerful motivator for spurring the transition to clean energy. Typically, carbon taxes are implemented by governmental entities, but more and more we’re seeing carbon taxes used as an internal mechanism for companies on their decarbonization journey.
By implementing a carbon tax, governments can incentivize citizens, businesses, and entire industries to assess and reduce their own carbon footprints. Particularly in high-carbon industries, the tax creates a disincentive and encourages strategic investment in energy efficiency, low-carbon technologies, and cleaner energy sources. Many times, governments also utilize the revenues from the tax to fund their own climate mitigation and resilience programs, which can foster a more sustainable and resilient economy if used effectively.
Companies themselves are increasingly turning to internal carbon taxes as a means to internalize the costs of carbon emissions and drive internal sustainability efforts. These self-imposed “tolls” mimic external carbon pricing mechanisms but are implemented internally by the company itself. By assigning a price to carbon emissions, companies create a financial incentive for departments and business units to reduce their carbon footprint and evaluate cleaner options for business activities. Some examples of global companies already doing this include Microsoft, AMGEN, Volvo and Kingspan.
Many companies are now also using this ‘tax’ to fund research and development on more environmentally friendly practices and/or products. This allows them to not only be prepared for the potential external imposition of a carbon tax by an authority having jurisdiction, but also ahead of the game as they have used their internal funds to reduce their impacts already.
