Copenhagen, 15 - 16/09/2011
Green Budget Europe Annual Conference
Green Budget Europe Annual Conference
"Taxation, Innovation and Communication: Enhancing the prospects for green fiscal reform"
Copenhagen, Denmark, 15-16 September 2011
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Conference Materials and Photos
Programme and Presentations on Thursday 15/09/2011
Programme and Presentations on Friday 16/09/2011
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This year's GBE annual conference took place at the European Environment Agency (EEA) in Copenhagen. It brought together leading experts to discuss Environmental Fiscal Reform in Europe and beyond.
The conference was organised in partnership with the Danish Ecological Council (DEC), an environmental NGO founded in 1991 to promote sustainable development. Sponsors and supporters include the European Environment Agency, Rockwool International, and the European Environmental Bureau.
GBE thinks all participants, the Danish Ecological Council and our hosts at the EEA will agree that the conference as a whole was a great success. The atmosphere was positive and everyone enjoyed some excellent presentations - even a fire alarm in the middle of the session on the ETD could not throw the participants too much off balance.
The two top female keynote speakers - Connie Hedegaard (Climate Action Commissioner) and Jacqueline McGlade (Executive Director, EEA) gave two very stimulating and interesting speeches. Also, Stewart Elgie gave a powerful presentation on the communication of ETR, using the carbon tax in BC as his example, Anselm Goerres highlighted the window of opportunity offered by the ongoing European crisis in relation to ETR, and Martin Lidegaard of Concito described some interesting research that will be taking place in Denmark in the coming months, while Jens Lundsgaard presented some of the most interesting findings of the OECD's Taxation, Innovation and the Environment. In the final panel session, Michael Jacobs, Manfred Rosenstock, Pieter De Pous and Anselm had much to say about perspectives for ETR in Europe.
The conference materials are available for download here.
Interviews of some of the speakers can be found at the following link.
The photos from the conference can be viewed here.
You can find more media coverage from the conference in the International Tax Review:
"How will environmental taxes shift the burden?"
"Climate commissioner backs shift to environmental taxation in EU"
"Revised Energy Tax Directive welcomed by taxpayers and activists"
Also, please read EndsEurope's article:
"EU energy taxation rules 'must not exempt fishing'".
To read the summary written by the Danish Ecological Council, our cooperation partner, please follow this link.
Thursday 15/09/2011
The advantages of green taxation, including special sessions on the
Energy Tax Directive
Keynote speakers – taxation as a driver for the green economy
Chair: Christian Ege, Director, Danish Ecological Council
Welcome and Introduction
Jacqueline Cottrell, Manager, Green Budget Europe
Christian Ege, Director, Danish Ecological Council
Keynote addresses:
Taxation, innovation and communication – ways forward for Environmental Taxation in Europe
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency
Download
Environmental Taxation in Europe – new opportunities offered by the crisis
Dr. Anselm Görres, President, Green Budget Europe
Download
Green tax reform in Denmark
Martin Lidegaard, Chairman of the Board, Concito
Download
The Energy Tax Directive: The latest Commission proposal and prospects for Implementation
Chair: Aldo Ravazzi, Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea,
and Vice President, Green Budget Europe
The Commission proposal for a revised Energy Tax Directive
Dr. Rolf Diemer, Head of Unit, DG Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Download
Green Budget Europe’s analysis of the proposed revisions to the Energy Tax Directive
Kai Schlegelmilch, Green Budget Europe
Download
Brief statements from speakers on their approaches to and opinions on the Energy Tax
Directive:
• Hans Larsen, Deputy Manager, Representative from the Danish Ministry of Tax
• Ilja Lorenzo Volpi, Policy Adviser, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) AISBL
1) Exploring the interrelationship between innovation and taxation
Taxation, Innovation and the Environment: Lessons from OECD Experience
Anthony Cox, Head of the Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD
Download
Innovation of energy technologies – the role of taxes
Helge Sigurd Naess-Schmidt, Director, Copenhagen Economics
Download
Environmental tax and fiscal reform in Japan and South Korea
Soocheol Lee, Professor at Meijo University Japan (Visiting Academic, Energy Institute, University College London)
Download
2) The Energy Tax Directive – stationary sources of emissions
Chair: Jørgen Henningsen, formerly Principal Advisor of DG Energy and Transport
Environmental taxes in the context of fiscal consolidation
John Ward, Principal, VIVID Economics Ltd.
Download
How and why energy taxes can be good for business
Anders Stouge, Deputy Director General, Danish Energy Association
Households and energy taxation
Søren Dyck-Madsen, Climate and Energy Policy Officer, Danish Ecological Council
Download
1) Evidence of green taxation boosting green innovation – successes in Denmark
Chair: David Gee, Senior Adviser, Science, Policy, Emerging Issues, Integrated Environmental Assessment, European Environment Agency (EEA)
The impact of the Danish carbon taxation on innovation at Danfoss
Thomas Keller, Senior Director, Danfoss
Download
Innovative responses to green taxes on waste in Denmark
Professor Dr. Mikael Skou Andersen, European Environment Agency (EEA)
Download
The impact of specifically industry-related taxes on industry in Denmark
Anders Larsen, Ass. Professor, Department of Society and Globalisation, Roskilde University
2) The Energy Tax Directive and the transport sector
Chair: Per Homan Jespersen, Lecturer, Institute for Environment, Social and Spatial Change at Roskilde University ENSPAC
Could EU prevent transport fuel tax competition between member states by copying the USA/Canada IFTA model?
Magnus Nilsson, Senior Campaigner, Transport & Environment
Download
The position of CER – the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies – on the Energy Tax Directive
Ilja Lorenzo Volpi , Policy Adviser, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) AISBL
Download
Fuel subsidies are driving community fisheries to extinction
Dr. Edward Fahy, Coordinator, Smart Taxes Network
Download
Friday 16/09/2011
Taxation, innovation and communication - highlighting the possibilities for change
KEYNOTES
Chair: Eero Yrjö-Koskinen, Executive Director, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
The benefits of stricter carbon cuts for innovation and green investments
Connie Hedegaard, Climate Action Commissioner, European Commission
The 'Sustainable Prosperity' project and its lessons for communicating environmental policies
Stewart Elgie, Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Ottawa, Canada
Policies to enhance innovation and green growth
Jens Lundsgaard, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, Denmark
Presentation: GBE's Green Fiscal Reformer of the Year Award
Parallel sessions 11.30 - 13.00
1) Environmental taxation and innovation - cases from around Europe
Chair: Thomas Kähler, Managing Director Rockwool Scandinavia
Greening industries without loss of competitiveness - Danish experiences and European options
Anders Chris Hansen, Lecturer at Institute for Environment, Social and Spatial Change at Roskilde University ENSPAC, Denmark
Download
The Community Innovation Survey in France - identifying sources of innovation
Maryvonne Phantarangsi, Chargée de mission in environmental policy and business/Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Sea, France
Download
The debate in Switzerland to replace (all of) VAT with environmental taxation
Ion Karagounis, Managing Director, Managing Director, Swiss Foundation for Environmental Management, Pusch Switzerland
Download
2) The potential impacts of taxes on innovation in the transport sector
Chair: Per Homann Jespersen, Lecturer, Institute for Environment, Social and Spatial Change at Roskilde University ENSPAC
Results of traffic-related taxes in Denmark
Christian Ege, Director, Danish Ecological Council, Denmark
Download
Tax Incentives in Taxation on Vehicles in the Czech Republic - a comparison of behaviour before and after environmental tax reform in the sector in 2009
Karel Korba and Zdenka Teserova, Head of Tax, Ministry of Finance, Czech Republic
Download
Possibilities and prospects for EFR in the transport sector in Portugal
Nuno Domingues, EFR Coordinator, GEOTA, Portugal
Download
Environmental Fiscal Reform: Communicating the benefits
Chairs: Jacqueline Cottrell, Manager, Green Budget Europe; Anne-Mette Wehmüller, Policy Officer, Danish Ecological Council
• This innovative session had 4 working groups discussing the communication of EFR
• After 45 minutes discussion, the groups came back together for the last 45 minutes to brainstorm ideas
• Group leaders, presenting their ideas about communication in the working groups:
- Professor Dr. Mikael Skou Andersen, EEA, Denmark
- Wayne Gumley, Senior Lecturer in Taxation Law, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- András Lukács, President, Clean Air Action Group, Hungary
Download
- Susanne Tolstrup, Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Better Place, Denmark
Panel Discussion - the potential for EFR, particularly the Energy Tax Direc-tive, to green the EU economy (including closing remarks by hosts GBE and DEC)
Chair: Kai Schlegelmilch, Vice President, Green Budget Europe
Dr. Anselm Görres, President, Green Budget Europe
Pieter de Pous, Policy Director, European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
Michael Jacobs, Visiting Professor, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics, and former Special Adviser in the UK Treasury
Hans Larsen, Deputy Manager, Representative from the Danish Ministry of Tax
Dr. Manfred Rosenstock, Deputy Head of Unit, Strategy, Environment DG