Carbon taxes debate for Tauranga Café Scientifique

Fossil fuel combustion is a driving force behind climate change but the market price of fuel fails to reflect the environmental cost. One way to change consumption levels is through carbon tax.

‘Carbon taxes: unpopular yet necessary?’ will be the topic of discussion at the next University of Waikato Tauranga Café Scientifique held on Monday August 8.

Speaker Professor Riccardo Scarpa has been the chair of Environmental Economics at the University of Waikato since 2005 and will discuss why carbon tax may be the only way to make the world pay attention to the damage a dependency of fossil fuel is having on our planet.

Carbon taxes remain unpopular because they impact low-income groups proportionally more than high income groups, and while smart urban design and public transport could mitigate this effect, carbon tax will dominate policy debate for quite some time.

Since February 2011 Professor Scarpa has been collaborating with the Centre for Study of Choice at the University of Technology Sydney and is a member of a panel of experts that advises the EU on the implementation of the policy.

His background includes a Laurea in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Tiscia-Viterbo, a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University College of Wales-Aberystwyth, a Master of Arts in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he also got his PhD in Forest Economics.

Café Scientifique is a forum for debating science issues, and is supported by the Faculty of Science & Engineering at the University of Waikato to make science accessible to people outside the traditional academic context.

The presentation will take place on Monday August 8 at Alimento, 72 First Avenue, Tauranga, starting at 7.30pm.