Authors: Jan Mazač, Dániel Muth, Matúš Mišík, Lukáš Tichý, Paweł Żuk

In: Civic Energy Self-Defense in the Visegrad Gruop. Bratislava: Comenius University, September 2024

Abstract

The war in Ukraine has triggered several different psychological, social, and economic reactions in societies. In the socio-economic aspect, the armed conflict in Ukraine evokes a sense of financial and social threat in many European societies. Among the main reasons for unrest in the economic area is the concern about energy security and price of energy that started in connection with economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and spiked as the consequence of the Russian invasion. To examine these challenges in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – the International Visegrad Fund supported project entitled “Civic energy self-defence in the shadow of the war in Ukraine: grassroots energy activities in V4”. This project was implemented by researchers from universities and think-tanks of all four countries and this report is one of its outputs. It presents findings from our empirical research conducted in early 2024. After this short introduction, four chapters discuss results of research conducted in individual countries. Conclusion summarizes the main findings and aggregates them for the whole Visegrad Group. Besides this report the project’s outputs include also four policy briefs with a short summary of our findings and policy recommendations. These policy briefs are in English language, but also all four national languages (Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Slovak) can be found on project web pages.

A Mazač, J., Muth, D., Mišík, M., Tichý, L., Żuk, P.: Civic Energy Self-Defense in the Visegrad Gruop bejegyzés először VGI-én jelent meg.

Author: Dániel Muth

In: Review of Policy Research – 11 June 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12625

Abstract

This paper analyzes the causal relationship between the carbon tax’s revenue recycling measures and political acceptability. The Irish carbon tax reform of 2019 forms the basis of the study. The findings are based on deductive content analysis and semi-structured, elite interviews with key politicians, climate policy advisors, and other influential figures involved in the policy-making process. Analyzing the extensive Irish revenue recycling scheme, encompassing compensatory measures and various forms of climate spending, provides researchers with the chance to track distinctive causal mechanisms over the course of a politically intense period, leading up to general elections. The results show that relief measures were crucial to alleviate concerns about the negative distributional impact of the policy, which was fiercely attacked by some opposition parties. Additionally, climate spending increased political acceptance by offering low-carbon alternatives to consumers, even though the policy was initially construed as punitive measure, especially in regions and sectors where switching to low-carbon options, public transport, or less carbon intense heating, were challenging or even impossible. A unique finding of the study is that revenue recycling facilitates the emergence of cross-party agreement among ideologically distant parties. Another crucial contribution of this study is the detailed comparison, from the perspective of political acceptability, of two alternative social compensation models, the fee and dividend model, and the integration of targeted social cushioning and climate spending (hypothecation).

A Muth, D.: Investigating the mechanisms linking revenue recycling to increased political acceptability of carbon pricing: The case study of the Irish carbon tax reform bejegyzés először VGI-én jelent meg.