Theoretical meaning

In development economics, how to achieve industrialization, get rid of poverty, and become prosperous in developing countries and underdeveloped regions is a core issue. The essence is that all countries and regions have the right to develop fairly; and in environmental economics, how to coordinate the economy Development and environmental protection are a focus of attention. In development economics, Nacks, Rosenstein-Rodin, Lewis and others emphasized the important role of industrialization in the process of economic development, and believed that the process of industrialization is a necessary stage of national and regional development. From the perspective of the development process of developed countries, industrialization is accompanied by the massive consumption of fossil energy, resulting in a large amount of accumulated carbon dioxide emissions. At present, all developing countries cannot take the path of extensive use of energy in developed countries if they want to advance to the developed stage. They must use energy efficiently, protect the environment, and control the total amount of carbon dioxide. Under the premise of controlling the total amount of carbon dioxide in China, this book explores the method of regional distribution of the total amount. It fully considers the differences in the level of economic development of various regions, and guarantees the right of underdeveloped regions to catch up with developed regions from the perspective of fairness. Carbon emissions are introduced as an important factor supporting economic development. It is believed that the carbon dioxide emission needs of various regions on the basis of healthy economic development should be met, which theoretically enriches the connotation of the fair development rights of various regions in development economics. In addition, this book from the perspective of national total carbon dioxide control, scientifically and rationally allocates control targets to various regions, which not only achieves the national environmental protection targets, but also achieves economic growth needs, and integrates economic development in environmental economics with How to coordinate and concretize environmental protection.

Practical significance

1. It is convenient to clarify the assessment basis for carbon dioxide emissions in various regions
   Starting from the factors that affect China’s carbon dioxide emissions, this book looks for the reasons for the differences in carbon dioxide emissions in various regions. The total carbon emission target of China has been allocated by region, and the efficiency is appropriately reflected on the premise of ensuring fairness. It can be seen that the result of this distribution is that various regions can achieve carbon dioxide emission levels through their efforts under the current economic development level. This differentiated distribution method provides a basis for the country’s assessment of regional carbon dioxide control.
2. Laid a foundation for the establishment and improvement of regional carbon trading platforms
   As a developing country, economic development is the current priority for China, but with limited environmental carrying capacity, environmental protection is also urgent. Therefore, China has set a goal of reducing carbon intensity by 40% to 45% by 2020 compared with 2005. This is a soft constraint when protecting economic development. At present, China is also actively exploring the construction of China’s carbon trading platform, and has planned carbon trading platform pilot cities. At the end of 2011, the Shanghai carbon emissions trading pilot project was officially launched. The acceleration of the construction of China’s carbon trading platform indicates that the total amount of carbon dioxide control is the inevitable development direction in the future, and the allocation of carbon emission resources through the market is also an inevitable way. At the beginning of the establishment of the carbon trading platform, the first problem that needs to be solved is the determination of the initial emission rights. Only when the fair and effective initial emission rights are clarified, can the resources allocated through the market approach reach the optimal state. It can be seen that the regional energy carbon dioxide distribution based on the principle of fairness in this book has laid the foundation for the establishment of China’s carbon trading platform.
3. Provide a reference standard for the collection of carbon taxes
   Many researches have been done on the levy of carbon taxes in China. The report “Research on the Issue of Levying Carbon Taxes” from the Institute of Finance of the Ministry of Finance believes that China can consider levying a carbon tax in the next five years and proposes a framework for the implementation of China’s carbon tax system. Researchers from the Finance and Taxation Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believe that it is necessary to levy a carbon tax, and from the perspective of the existing tax system framework, this environmental tax is still relatively lacking. The purpose of the existing tax system is to increase fiscal revenue. And did not give full play to the role of improving the allocation of resources. Liu Deshun, deputy director of the Institute of Global Climate Change at Tsinghua University, also pointed out that fiscal measures such as a carbon tax can complement other measures to reduce energy consumption.

It can be seen that in the long run, the introduction of a carbon tax is an important means for China to reduce emissions in the future. On the one hand, the goal of reducing emissions through the introduction of a carbon tax will help respond to international public opinion and establish China’s international image as a responsible power; on the other hand, it can also curb growth by increasing taxes on high energy-consuming and high-polluting companies. , Encourage enterprises to save energy and reduce emissions, and promote the optimization of industrial structure and the development of energy saving and emission reduction technologies. In addition, as an independent environmental tax, carbon tax can make the taxation framework of environmental tax more perfect.

As the impact of carbon tax is very large, which groups are levied and how the tax rate is set are the key points that need to be paid attention to, and the principle of fairness and efficiency in the distribution of carbon emissions control in this book can also become the future carbon tax formulation. Based on the efficiency, the formulation of a carbon tax should focus on the development of low-carbon industries and restrict high-carbon industries. However, from the perspective of fairness, certain high-carbon industries are also the basis for the development of low-carbon industries. Therefore, all high-carbon industries cannot be blindly restricted and should be treated differently.