Potential effects of emission taxes on CO2 emissions in the OECD and LDCs

A set of existing optimization models, which represent the energy systems of the OECD and LDCs (less developed countries excluding centrally planned economies) with a time horizon to 2020, has been applied to derive first-order estimates of the techno-economic potential for emission reduction. The driving force for the introduction of reduction measures is a scheme of taxes levied on the emission of six pollutants, including the greenhouse gases CO2 and methane. The tax levels introduced are based on taxes discussed by the Swedish government: they are the break-even point to test which measures are cost-effective and which emission levels can be reached at these costs.