The politics of climate policy innovation: the case of the Argentine carbon tax

ABSTRACT

This contribution analyzes the policymaking process of the carbon tax in Argentina based on the multiple streams approach (MSA). The study shows how policy entrepreneurs took advantage of a general tax reform bill to promote the idea of a carbon tax. Mainly driven by international emulation and reputational gains concerns, the carbon tax proposal successfully advanced through the government´s internal drafting process of the Tax Reform Bill, however, it faced strong opposition during the legislative decision-making process, which resulted in the adoption of a weaker carbon tax. From a climate politics perspective, the Argentine carbon tax case suggests the political limitations of an over-reliance on international reputation arguments to advance climate policy innovation. In relation to the MSA, the study highlights how policy windows can shape processes of policy innovation and the analytical convenience of differentiating the coupling processes between the agenda-setting and decision-making stages.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy innovation
• carbon tax
• multiple streams
• climate politics
• climate policy
• Argentina

Acknowledgments

We thank the journal´s editor and anonymous reviewers for their critical reading of the manuscript and useful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The High-Level Commission on Carbon Price chaired by Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern brought together 13 leading economists to identify the range of carbon prices that, together with other supportive policies, would deliver on the Paris climate targets. The Commission concluded that to achieve the agreed climate goals countries should set a carbon price with a target of $ 40–80 per tCO2e in 2020, then between $ 50–100 by 2030.

2. The ‘fixed sum’ also fulfills a buffer and stabilizer role of fuel prices against changes in international oil prices. This was a key element to get support for the proposal from the head of the Ministry of Energy (Interviewee 6).