The 15th Global Conference on Environmental Taxation was held in Copenhagen from 25-26 September. The conference was hosted by the Aarhus University and attended by around 160 participants from across the world including representatives of national governments, EU and international institutions, academia and civil society. The theme of the conference was ‘Environmental taxation and emissions trading in an era of climate change’. 

Patrick ten Brink (Senior Fellow and Head of IEEP Brussels office) and Sirini Withana (Senior Policy Analyst in IEEP’s Environment and Climate Governance Programme) gave a presentation at the conference on ‘Motivating progress on environmental tax reform through coalitions of like-minded countries’. This presentation was based on a study carried out by IEEP for the Ministry of Environment and Infrastructure of the Netherlands on future opportunities for environmental tax reform (ETR) in Europe. The presentation focused on the study’s proposals to establish voluntary ‘coalitions of like-minded countries’ in different thematic areas, how to engage action and take this initiative forward. Potential themes for such coalitions include: fiscal consolidation as a new window of opportunity for ETR; cooperating to avoid competitiveness concerns; jobs, equity, social costs and benefits; resource efficiency & circular economy; climate change & energy; transport & mobility; pollution & pressures on environment, biodiversity & health.