The unlikely Mexican carbon tax—a question of economic-environmental synergies?

Summary, in English

In 2013, Mexico was the first developing country to adopt a carbon tax, confounding expectations that adoption of such taxes is mostly driven by international commitments and hindered by economic concerns: Mexico was not subject to international climate commitments and constituted an economy dependent on oil and exports to its NAFTA trading partners, which did not price carbon. To address this puzzle, we examine the relationship between environmental and economic factors in the adoption of the tax and whether they originate from the international or national level. We find that the idea of carbon pricing was introduced from abroad, allowing entrepreneurs to frame the carbon tax as economically and environmentally beneficial and build a coalition spanning economic and environmental actors. The 2012 elections and resulting fiscal reform moved the tax onto the legislative agenda and secured its passage.

• Author: Jakob Skovgaard; Sofia Sacks Ferrari
• Department/s: Department of Political Science; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
• Publishing year: 2023
• Language: English
• Pages: 2623-2639
• Publication/Series: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 13
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2022.2081136
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Topic: Globalization Studies
• Keywords: carbon taxes; economic-environmental relations; Mexico; policy adoption; policy process
• Status: Published
• Project: A price on carbon emissions: What makes states adopt carbon pricing policies?
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0964-0568