•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This article outlines some of the international legal impediments to domestic environmental tax policies in furtherance of climate change mitigation, i.e. certain WTO rules on trade in goods, fuel tax exemptions in aviation treaties, and tax stabilisation provisions that are protected under the umbrella clause of investment treaties. It argues that international action is the most effective and often the only option to address those legal obstacles. The emergence of the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (‘FTC’) is, in that regard, a timely development. Given the central institutional role UN-related bodies already have in climate change, sea transport, and aviation and the stated objective of the FTC, it is appropriate to consider prioritising international cooperation on environmental or carbon taxes as a protocol under the FTC.

Share

COinS