Strong climate policies for air travel and food: design, effect and acceptability

Research Project, 2024 – 2028

Food consumption and air travel collectively represent nearly half of the total climate footprint of Swedish households. There is limited potential for technological solutions to reduce climate emissions in both sectors in the near term, as well as a significant policy deficit. This project is designed to examine environmentally differentiated consumption taxes, such as taxes on meat and dairy products according to their climate impact and distance-based air passenger taxes, in terms of effectiveness, distributional and employment effects, as well as acceptability.To address potential public resistance, a major emphasis will be placed on using tax revenues in a transparent and cost-neutral way, for example, through within-sector tax differentiation and a fee and redistribution model (lump sum transfer). The acceptability of various economic policies will be analyzed, focusing on design and communication strategies to maximize public support.This research will also determine the necessary levels of climate taxes required to align emission reductions in the aviation and food sectors with established climate targets. It will analyze the distributional effects of different policy packages across demographics such as varying income levels, and rural versus urban residences. Additionally, this project will explore how economic policies might impact employment, recognizing that shifts in consumption patterns can decrease jobs in some sectors while increasing them in others.