Department of Innovation Economics and Management, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
Ambio. 2009 Sep;38(6):339-41. doi: 10.1579/08-a-616.1.
We investigate environmental impacts of off-budget or indirect subsidies, which, unlike on-budget subsidies, are not visible in government budgets. Such subsidies have received little attention in economic and environmental research, even though they may be at least as important from an environmental perspective as on-budget subsidies. We offer a typology of indirect subsidies. Next, we estimate the magnitude of these subsidies and their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) and acidifying emissions for the agriculture, energy, and transport sectors in The Netherlands. The calculations are based on a model approach that translates a particular subsidy into price and quantity changes using empirical elasticities, followed by environmental effect estimates using pollution-intensity parameters. The various environmental pollution effects are aggregated into environmental indicators. The results show, among others, that GHG emissions caused by off-budget subsidies contribute to more than 30% of the policy targets specified by the Kyoto Protocol for CO2 emissions reduction by The Netherlands. Reforming or removing off-budget subsidies may thus be an important strategy of effective climate policy.
我们研究了预算外或间接补贴的环境影响，这些补贴与预算内补贴不同，在政府预算中并不明显。这些补贴在经济和环境研究中几乎没有受到关注，尽管从环境角度来看，它们至少与预算内补贴一样重要。我们提供了间接补贴的分类法。接下来，我们估算了这些补贴的规模及其对荷兰农业、能源和运输部门温室气体（GHG）和酸化排放的影响。这些计算基于一种模型方法，该方法使用经验弹性将特定补贴转化为价格和数量变化，然后使用污染强度参数估算环境影响。各种环境污染影响被汇总为环境指标。结果表明，预算外补贴造成的温室气体排放导致荷兰京都议定书规定的 CO2 减排政策目标的 30%以上。因此，改革或取消预算外补贴可能是有效气候政策的重要策略。
