A global review of ecological fiscal transfers

Jonah Busch*, Irene Ring, Monique Akullo, Oyut Amarjargal, Maud Borie, Rodrigo S. Cassola, Annabelle Cruz-Trinidad, Nils Droste, Joko Tri Haryanto, Ulan Kasymov, Nataliia Viktorivna Kotenko, Ariunaa Lhkagvadorj, Felipe Luiz Lima De Paulo, Peter H. May, Anit Mukherjee, Sonny Mumbunan, Rui Santos, Luca Tacconi, Gracie Verde Selva, Madhu VermaXiaoxi Wang, Lu Yu, Kecen Zhou

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    57 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Ecological fiscal transfers (EFT) transfer public revenue between governments within a country based on ecological indicators. EFT can compensate subnational governments for the costs of conserving ecosystems and in principle can incentivize greater ecological conservation. We review established EFT in Brazil, Portugal, France, China and India, and emerging or proposed EFT in ten more countries. We analyse common themes related to EFT emergence, design and effects. EFT have grown rapidly from US$0.35 billion yr−1 in 2007 to US$23 billion yr−1 in 2020. We discuss the scope of opportunity to expand EFT to other countries by ‘greening’ intergovernmental fiscal transfers.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)756-765
    Number of pages10
    JournalNature Sustainability
    Volume4
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2021

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