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In view of the challenges posed by climate change and the increasingly ambitious climate targets around the world, the search for effective climate policy instruments is gaining momentum. Carbon pricing, for example, in the form of a carbon tax, and its effects are therefore attracting increasing attention in academic as well as policy discussions. We review the empirical effects of carbon taxes with regard to several impact dimensions commonly studied in the literature: environmental effectiveness, macroeconomic effects, impacts on competitiveness and innovation, distributional implications, and public acceptance. An increasing body of empirical studies shows that carbon taxes can effectively reduce carbon emissions or at least dampen their growth while not negatively affecting economic growth, employment, and competitiveness. The existing empirical evidence suggests that the distributional impact of carbon taxes depends on the type of energy use and the indicators to capture distributional effects, as well as on household characteristics. Lump-sum transfers are shown to be better suited to mitigate regressive effects for lower incomes, while higher incomes benefit more from a reduction of labour taxes. Public acceptance of carbon taxes can be increased by providing public information, avoiding negative distributional effects, and channelling part of the revenues into "environmental projects".

Discussions about the reform of subsidies with negative climate impacts have been going on for decades in policy and research. Such subsidies counteract climate protection efforts, contradict the polluter-pays principle, and reinforce market distortions and the carbon lock-in. Based on a literature review, the paper summarises the results of a comprehensive bottom-up analysis of direct subsidies and fiscal measures (indirect subsidies) that are granted on the federal level in Austria. The analysis considers energy generation and use, transport, and agriculture and assesses the subsidies' legal foundations and original motivations, the subsidy volumes and identifies the beneficiary groups. The quantification of the subsidies results in a range of 4.1 to 5.7 billion € p.a. In addition, relevant regulatory provisions that have a subsidy character are examined. Considering the environmental effectiveness, economic criteria (like distributional impacts) and potential legal constraints reform suggestions are developed for the support measures.

Mitte 2022 wird in Österreich im Rahmen der "ökosozialen Steuerreform" mit der Bepreisung von CO2 ein neues Werkzeug im Mix der klimapolitischen Instrumente verfügbar. Österreich folgt mit dieser Bepreisung von Treibhausgasen einer sowohl in Europa als auch global immer stärker werdenden Tendenz. Dieses Instrument soll Anreize für die Restrukturierung des Wirtschafts- und Lebensstils setzen, die nicht nur den Klimawandel eindämmen hilft, sondern auch Wohlstand, Resilienz und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit stärkt.

Two major international frameworks provide landmarks for future development paths: the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. Monitoring the progress towards achieving the individual goals must take into account a multitude of synergies and trade-offs. In this paper we use composite indices to analyse climate and energy policies in selected EU member countries. These results show that, in general, the improvements regarding energy efficiency, emissions and deployment of renewables have been moderate in the period under observation (2005–2015). This hints at the time needed for restructuring to take place, which underlines the importance of credible political commitments to climate targets, the implementation of ambitious instruments and the need for stability in the guiding frameworks to effectuate substantial changes. In addition, the analysis of the selected countries shows that they are characterised by very specific energy systems (complemented by specific social structures), and this determines the challenges that each country must overcome on the way to decarbonisation and sustainable development. While the SDGs are to be implemented on a global scale, it is necessary to adapt them to the characteristics of a given country or region. Reliable and long-term quantitative data that is comparable across countries or regions and that takes into account the social dimension is required to be able to monitor the overall progress of SGD implementation.