Effects of carbon tax

At the recent United Nations Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, a proposal was made by Italy to have surcharges be applied by OECD member countries on fossil fuels (carbon tax), primarily to fund pollution abatement technology transfer to developing countries and promote pollution abatement, energy conservation and the use of renewable energy sources in industrialized countries. This paper assesses how the application of the proposed carbon tax might be successfully combined with additional fiscal policies favouring coal gasification and reforestation so as to provide energy policy strategists of oil-importing countries with a long term economically and environmentally viable alternative to petroleum imports