Getting the prices right: The role of environmental trading schemes

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), on behalf of the Directorate-General for the Environment, European Commission, is pleased to invite you to a workshop to discuss ‘Getting the prices right – the role of environmental tracking schemes’.  The workshop is one of three taking place to share emerging findings from a study funded by the European Parliament and being undertaken for the European Commission by an IEEP-led consortium.  It will take place online between 10.30 and 13.30 CET on 23 March.

Register here

It follows the high-level event Getting the Prices Right – how green taxation can build fairer, more resilient economies held on 4 February of which a recording is here.

The event is aimed at officials in Member States’ Environment, Finance and Economics Ministries, but is open to other stakeholders. A first event for Member State officials focusing on environmental taxes is being held on 9 March.

This workshop will share findings from the study about the potential for a greater use of environmental trading schemes, drawing on experience in Member States who have successfully done so.  It will feature three such schemes – a scheme for trading livestock rights to achieve reductions in ammonia emissions, water pricing and trading to reflect water scarcity, and the use of transparency in biodiversity offsetting schemes to improve economic efficiency.  None of these schemes is yet widely applied in the EU.

The aim is to share details of how design features in the instruments under discussion help to achieve environmental objectives.  The keynote presentation will be from Joukje de Vries of CE Delft and will discuss how a system of trading rights to keep livestock could be used to tackle emissions of ammonia.  A similar system has been in use in the Netherlands for many years to tackle phosphate pollution, and the presentation will discuss how this might be adapted to tackle ammonia.  There will follow shorter presentations on the potential for greater use of water pricing and tradeable abstraction rights, and how transparency can be used within a system of biodiversity offsetting, as is the case in Luxembourg and the UK, to ensure that developers are faced by more correct price signals in respect of their impact on biodiversity.  Contributions from IEEP and DG Environment will discuss findings from the wider study on the role of environmental taxes in wider economic reconstruction, and how the Commission can support Member States in their work.  There will be an opportunity for questions after each of the presentations.

The agenda is below. To register, please use the following link.