Gradual Introduction of Coercive Instruments in Climate Policy

This paper is about acceptance building, i.e. devising a mechanism for the gradual preparation of the citizenship and the economy in order to implement a carbon tax. It draws from the experiences made in Switzerland, where voluntary approaches were combined with a CO2 tax. More generally, this paper is about the dynamics of climate policy in a democracy, where law making is always participatory. It analyses the genesis of the Swiss CO2 Law, in particular the history of an earlier aborted proposal, to show the setting up of a peculiar strategic approach that spawned an array of voluntary approaches. The approach seemed about to succeed in creating sufficient support for the carbon tax. However, a last minute proposal of a private levy on fuel prices upset everything and seems about to fully undermine the CO2 Law. We interpret what went wrong and attempt to draw general lessons for climate policy