The University of British Columbia

A Spotlight on Environmental Taxation

A panel discussion on the BC Carbon Tax (left to right): Nancy
Olewiler, Director, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University ;
Mikael Skou Andersen, European Environment Agency, Denmark;
Stewart Elgie, Director, Institute of the Environment, University
of Ottawa and Chair, Sustainable Prosperity, Canada; Kathryn
Harrison, University of British Columbia Department of Political
Science, Canada; James Mack, Head, British Columbia Climate
Action Secretariat; and Nicholas Rivers, University of Ottawa
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Chairholder,
Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy

UBC Law had the honor of hosting the 13th Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, which brought in over 50 speakers from close to 20 countries. These experts presented on the barriers and the opportunities for environmental taxation, with an emphasis on the potential of this type of taxation to prompt technological innovation.

"Environmental taxation is underutilized in most jurisdictions around the world on account of misunderstanding and political unpopularity," explained UBC Law Professor David Duff, this year's host for the conference. "However, it represents a valuable policy instrument to discourage environmental harm and finance environmental remediation."

In the past, the research produced by these scholars and presented at the conference has been at the frontier of applied work on environmental taxation. Their work rigorously examines the ramifications of environmental taxation in different jurisdictions, industries and ecological settings. The conference brings together a wide range of discussions from across disciplines on research and policy, providing global leadership on this area of work.

A highlight of this year's conference was a panel discussion on the BC Carbon Tax. Panelists represented a diverse range of perspectives, including representatives from the European Environment Agency, UBC Department of Political Science, The British Columbia Climate Action, and the University of Ottawa Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

"Since British Columbia is the only North American jurisdiction to introduce a broad-based carbon tax, it is particularly appropriate that this year's conference was hosted by UBC Law," said Professor Duff. "Next year's conference will be held in Kyoto, Japan, which has particular significance for researchers concerned about global climate change."

The Faculty of Law would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of this conference: Carbon Management Canada, the National Centre for Business Law, Environmental Tax Policy Institute and Sustainable Prosperity.