Carbon Tax Perspectives in Ukraine: Legal Regulation and Comparison of the National and European Experience of Implementation

Abstract

Environmental tax in general is one of the state's instruments in environmental
protection and financing of the environmental protection measures. The purpose of the tax is to
encourage business entities to reduce emissions / discharges of pollutants into the air / water
bodies, to establish direct dependence of the amount of tax deductions on the degree of negative
impact on the environment, mobilization of funds to budgets of different levels in order to finance
the costs of protection and rational use of natural resources. This article examines and compares
with Ukraine and EU countries the experience, rates and background policies of the carbon
taxation. The carbon tax as an environmental tax with a significant effect on economic and legal
incentives for business entities and state authorities to fulfill the policy of energy efficiency, energy
saving and energy transition to renewable energy sources what is coincided with the mitigation of
greenhouse gas emissions and achievement of National Determined Contributions according to the
Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. The main issue is that rate of carbon tax, used nowadays in
Ukraine is not being sufficient to provide the energy transition of country economy to the less
consuming model according the examples from Germany, Netherlands, Finland and other
countries of Europe. Interconnected linkage between carbon tax, energy and climate policy is
proven in the article along with mechanisms of economic, political and environmental peculiarities
and benefits of the carbon taxation regulation improvement in national legislation