• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.59-72
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• 1999

The purpose of the study is to propose the concrete and realistic alternative measures for $CO_2$ emission reduction on commercial sector. To achieve the purpose, this study adopted AIM/KOREA simulation model modified from AIM(Asia-Pacific Integrated Model) originally developed by Japan National Environmental Research Institute. The results of simulation demonstrate that the $CO_2$ emission from the commercial sector in 1995 was estimated 864 million TC(tons of carbon); however, according to the base scenario, $CO_2$ emission in 2020 is expected to be increased to 1,872 million TC, which is 2.17 times greater than that in 1995. In order to mitigate the ever-increasing $CO_2$ emission, the results of AIM/KOREA simulations under various scenarios showed that the 30-thousand-won carbon tax scenario does not successfully motivate the selection of advanced technology; however, with the 300-thousand-won carbon tax, a substantial amount of $CO_2$ emission reduction by 1.69 million TC from the BaU((Business-as-Usual)scenario is expected to be achieved by year 2020. Such substantial reduction of $CO_2$ emission under the 300-thoudsand-won carbon tax scenario is due to the introduction of advanced technology, such as use of condensing boilers, forced by heavier carbon tax. Under the scenario that presumes the maximum introduction of gas-burning industrial appliances, an 2.66 million TC of $CO_2$ reduction was expected. The results of this study suggest that the $CO_2$ emission reduction measures can be interpreted in many different views. However, if people and industries are fully aware of the economic benefit of energy saving, a certain level of $CO_2$ reduction by a successful introduction of advanced energy saving technology appears to be achieved without carbon tax or subsidies.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-35
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• 2017

This study investigates a decomposition analysis of the determinants of the reduced $CO_2$ emissions in seven OECD countries that implemented carbon taxes from 1995 to 2013. Recent studies on decomposition analysis of changes in $CO_2$ emissions focused on technology-based physical factors; however, this study analyzes the effects of a carbon tax as an economic factor. According to the results obtained by using the Log Mean Divisia Index, the energy intensity effect and the carbon tax effect contributed the most towards the reduction of total $CO_2$ emissions in the seven OECD countries. The results for each country show that the emissions decreased due to the energy intensity effect, while the effects of carbon tax and carbon tax revenues differed by policy and environment of the countries.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-75
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• 2023

Compared to the EU, which legislates the Carbon Border Adjustment System (CBAM), the United States' carbon border adjustment policy movement is still relatively slow. Recently, however, a related bill has been proposed in the United States, and research institutes have been presenting research results on how to introduce an upstream carbon tax rather than an emission trading system and carry out carbon border adjustment based on it. Therefore, in this study, we looked at the economic and environmental effects of introducing this type of upstream carbon tax and carbon border adjustment in Korea. If an upstream carbon tax of KRW 30,000 per ton of CO₂ is applied to the net supply of domestic fossil energy, the expected carbon tax revenue is approximately KRW 22.9961 trillion, equivalent to about 5.7% of the total revenue of the Korean government of KRW 402 trillion in 2019. In addition, the carbon dioxide content of the steel sector, calculated based on the energy supply and demand status of the steel sector, which emits the most greenhouse gas emissions in Korea and has a considerable amount of overseas exports, was 106.22 million tons of CO₂. On the other hand, assuming that the upstream carbon tax of 30,000 won per ton of CO₂ embodied is directly passed on to the production cost of the steel sector, the carbon tax burden in the steel sector is estimated to reach approximately KRW 3.1865 trillion. Even after deducting KRW 1.1599 trillion in export refunds estimated by using the share of exports of steel products, the net carbon tax burden on steel products for domestic demand amounts to KRW 2.0266 trillion, which is analyzed to act as a factor in increasing the price of steel products.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.275-298
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• 2003

This paper compares the economic effects of climate policy options in Korea. The impacts and implications of carbon and Btu tax schemes are analyzed using the META Net modeling system, which was developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Findings indicate that carbon tax is more cost effective compared to Btu tax, but this does not necessarily mean the former is more desirable than the latter. Energy market stability and national energy security is equally important in choosing policy options. Moreover Btu tax is more effective in reducing energy consumption in general. It reduces not only carbon intensive energy sources, but non-fossil fuel like electricity. Korean economy consumes too much energy and energy efficiency is very low compared to other OECD countries. So the reduction of energy demand growth should be the first priority of the national energy policy in Korea.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.853-876
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• 2000

The purpose of this paper is to come up with the measures for sustainable development of the agricultural sector in store for the strengthened U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. We analyze the spillover effects of Methane and Nitrous Oxides taxes (carbon tax) on the Korean agricultural sector. Unlike the other sectors, the agricultural sector has a unique characteristic generating greenhouse gas in the process of production itself even without consuming much fossil fuel. In order to estimate the impacts of those taxes, non-linear optimization method has been used with various assumed scenarios. The production effect, income and' price effect, and greenhouse gas emission reduction effect in the agricultural sector have been estimated through this method. The empirical results show that the paddy sector has a bigger tax effect than the livestock sector. In the paddy sector, the carbon tax has more impacts in the suburban areas than in the rural areas, while the swine farming section in the livestock sector has a conspicuous income effect in the midst of low greenhouse gas emission effect. These results allude us to apply graded tax rates to the crop, the livestock, and the region of different kind. Even if the agricultural sector has a less tax effect when compared with other industrial sectors, an environmental tax might be an effective measure to prevent global warming.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.700-706
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• 2010

Carbon costs, either in the form of a carbon tax or through permit prices in an emissions trading scheme, would ultimately be reflected in higher electricity prices. This price "pass-through" is very critical to the effective design of new policies to curb the amount of carbon emissions. This paper sets out in a structured way the factors that determine price pass-through and how carbon costs would impact on the electricity market and the existing coal-fired power plants. It is shown that pass-through can vary drastically if the underlying dispatch potential of generators varies significantly across alternative emissions reduction scenarios. It can also vary depending on the availability of competing cleaner forms of generation. Pass-through as a measure of business performance is therefore hard to generalize across different circumstances and should be interpreted carefully.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.217-238
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• 2023

Currently, automobile tax in Korea is imposed by multiplying the vehicle's engine displacement by a certain tax rate. However, the need for revision is being raised as it is pointed out that the current system does not reflect the immediate task of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, this study focuses on the positive relationship between engine displacement and CO₂ emissions, and seeks to calculate an appropriate automobile tax rate considering average CO₂ emissions. To this end, first, we estimated the average annual CO₂ emissions (kg/vehicle) for each engine displacement using the average CO₂ emissions for each vehicle displacement as of 2020. Next, multiple scenarios were analyzed considering the standard tax rate at $75 per ton of CO₂ emissions proposed by the IMF (2019). In particular, we compared the case of imposing a uniform carbon tax of $75 and the case of imposing a progressive tax based on CO₂ emissions by displacement. According to the results, it was confirmed that the uniform tax rate proposed by the IMF is difficult to apply to Korea as it is due to the impact of a decrease in tax revenue, and a tax scheme needs to be designed appropriately considering maintenance of tax revenue according to the current automobile tax, greenhouse gas reduction effect, and automobile tax reform trends in developed countries. For example, in the case of the K3 (1,598cc) of Kia Motors, a representative compact car sold in Korea, if we compare the tax burdens for each tax scenario, the tax burden will be about 220,000 KRW under the current system, about 79,000 KRW under the uniform tax rate, about 83,000 KRW under the progressive tax rate, and about 240,000 KRW under the progressive tax rate similar to the UK tax system, respectively. In this way, this study identified the current statuses of automobile registration and tax in Korea, and automobile tax reform trends in major developed countries, and analyzed the impact of automobile tax reform considering engine displacement and CO₂ emissions, focusing on the tax burden of the people.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.169-184
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• 2020

Purpose - This research is intended to analyze the current status and problems of tax benefits in the R&D sector and suggest ways to improve tax credit for research and manpower development expenses when various countries fiercely develop efforts to enhance national competitiveness through increased investment in R&D Design/methodology/approach - This study will examine the current status of the tax support system for domestic and foreign R&D, and suggest improvement measures to expand research and development activities in the future. Findings - First, a plan may be considered to abolish and perpetuate the sunset deadline for tax credit for research and manpower development expenses as in the case of the United States and Japan. This perpetuation can be a proactive measure to actively support long-term R & D investment in companies facing economic decisions under uncertainty. Second, it should be revised to raise the tax credit rate of large corporations, which are shrinking every year, compared to SMEs, so that both large corporations and SMEs can improve their international competitiveness and secure excellent technologies through R & D. Finally, the target technologies for each new growth engine and source technology should be expanded to various fields, including national cybersecurity enhancement technology, aviation engine technology, carbon emission and global cooling technologies, which are areas of interest in major overseas R&D countries, to help active R&D and investment in these areas. Research implications or Originality - This study can find a contribution in comparing and analyzing the national R&D tax support system and presenting improvement measures at a time when the benefits of tax credit for research and manpower development expenses of large companies are decreasing due to frequent tax law revisions and the government's factors of increasing tax revenues. In addition, recent research and development items and research technologies of foreign countries were analyzed by Nature's top 10 major science and technology issues, and advanced technologies that should be applied to target technology areas by new growth engine and source technology were specifically investigated and presented.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.129-169
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to experiment and simulate the newly-updated Second Generation Model for Korea (SGM-Korea). With the updated model, we tried to simulate effect of carbon tax on $CO_2$ emissions and other macroeconomic variables for Korea. The baseline data are compared with projected profiles by various scenarios to evaluate its performance. Our contribution in this study is to having up-graded the model from its earlier version by building new hybrid input-output table based on 2000 input-output and energy balanced tables. According to our estimation, total $CO_2$ emission in Korea has already increased in 2000 to about 1.86 times the 1990 figure. The level of carbon tax required for the current level of $CO_2$ emission to be reduced to the 1995 or 2000 level seems to be too high for Korean economy to bear. It is possible to find a reasonable level of carbon tax, however, if it can combine it with improvement of energy efficiency at the rate of 0.5% to 1% per year. For Korea to meet its obligation to reduce $CO_2$ emissions, therefore, it is imperative for her to improve energy efficiency as well as to develop alternative energy source reducing its dependence on fossil fuel.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.1201-1211
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• 2012

This paper constructed the single country sequential dynamic CGE model to analyze the economic impacts of subsidizing water industry under the GHG emission abatement policy in Korea. We introduced the carbon tax to reduce the GHG emission and made two scenarios. One is to transfer the total tax revenue to household. The other is to mix the tax transfer and water industry support. Our Simulation results show that the macroeconomic effects might be positive by subsidizing water industry compared with the pure tax transfer. However, the support of water industry doesn't contribute to head for the non-energy intensive economy because it's economic activity highly depend on fossil energy and energy intensive products as intermediate demand. This means that it is important to make efforts on the cost effective measures such as energy technology progress, alternative energy development, and energy efficiency improvement in water industry against climate change policy.