Q58 - Environmental Economics: Government PolicyReturn

This paper uses as its point of departure a hypothesis that support to renewable sources by means of various subsidies, regulatory measures and tax changes is implemented not only in costlier energy, but also (given various new forms of economic pressure) in those areas of human activity that are meant to be helped and strengthened by these measures. The relationship between strengthening the pressure for advancing renewable energy sources and data such as CO2 emissions or fossil fuel consumption in households is also mathematically tested. Besides this, certain data in the area of agricultural production are also examined, considering the fact that attempts at regulation often have the exact opposite effect - for instance, stagnation of emissions or introducing new plants that are unsuitable for the Czech environment, the cultivation of which is connected with significant problems, including local ecological catastrophes. On the basis of proof, the paper arrives at the conclusion that not only do attempts to benefit the environment through support to renewable energy sources fail to lead to demonstrable success, but that it is highly probable that the real results are negative, which means that the environment comes off in a generally poorer state as a result of these endeavours.

Both the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the European Commission are going to impose new CO2 taxation. Within the scope of this news, it is interesting to focus on the current CO2 taxation in the European Union Member States. This article first presents some theoretical concepts regarding environmental and CO2 taxation, including a focus on the political tasks regarding CO2 taxation in the Czech Republic. Then both the methodology and data are presented; research in international databases is the key method. The third chapter of the paper deals with the research results; it focuses on current national systems for CO2 taxation in particular European Union Member States. Regarding the energy sector, the comparison of particular tax rates is provided. The study deals with the time period until the end of June 2012. The key part of the third chapter focuses on the CO2 taxation proposals by both the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the European Commission, including a comparison of the proposed CO2 tax rates. Finally, the results are discussed and proposals for both additional research and CO2 tax modelling are made.