Supporting Energy Pricing Reform and Carbon Pricing Policies Through Crediting

The report explores the concept of 'policy crediting'—crediting emission reductions resulting from policy actions—as a means to encourage the implementation or strengthening of energy pricing and carbon pricing reforms. While noting that no real-world case examples of this currently exist, the study uses case studies from Morocco, Indonesia, Mexico, and Beijing to propose three generic options for policy crediting: supporting reductions at the policy margin, supporting reductions within the policy instrument, and overcoming implementation barriers. The author concludes that further work is required to develop monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) frameworks and to understand the political economy challenges associated with these approaches.

• Policy crediting is a new concept with no existing real-world case examples, although some methodological work and operational blueprinting have occurred for regulatory policies like energy-efficiency standards and feed-in tariffs.
• Crediting carbon pricing policies could potentially generate larger emission reductions and international carbon flows than those achieved by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI).
• Based on case studies of energy subsidy reform in Morocco and Indonesia, a carbon tax in Mexico, and a pilot emission trading scheme in Beijing, the study recommends three generic options for policy crediting: supporting emission reductions at the policy margin, supporting emission reductions within the policy instrument, and overcoming barriers to effective policy implementation and operation.

APA

Harries,, P. W. G. B. B. G.-L. G.-L. M. H. H. M. V. J. (2016). Supporting Energy Pricing Reform and Carbon Pricing Policies Through Crediting. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/supporting-energy-pricing-reform-and-carbon-pricing-policies-through-crediting

Chicago

Harries,, Peter Wooders,Philip Gass,Richard Bridle,Christopher Beaton,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Axel Michaelowa,Stephan Hoch,Matthias Honegger,Tyeler Matsuo,Vanessa Villa,Mark Johnson,James. Supporting Energy Pricing Reform and Carbon Pricing Policies Through Crediting. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2016. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/supporting-energy-pricing-reform-and-carbon-pricing-policies-through-crediting.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harries, |first1=Peter Wooders,Philip Gass,Richard Bridle,Christopher Beaton,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Axel Michaelowa,Stephan Hoch,Matthias Honegger,Tyeler Matsuo,Vanessa Villa,Mark Johnson,James |title=Supporting Energy Pricing Reform and Carbon Pricing Policies Through Crediting |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=17 May 2016 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/supporting-energy-pricing-reform-and-carbon-pricing-policies-through-crediting |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harries2016supporting, author = {Harries,, Peter Wooders,Philip Gass,Richard Bridle,Christopher Beaton,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Frédéric Gagnon-Lebrun,Axel Michaelowa,Stephan Hoch,Matthias Honegger,Tyeler Matsuo,Vanessa Villa,Mark Johnson,James}, title = {{Supporting Energy Pricing Reform and Carbon Pricing Policies Through Crediting}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2016}, month = may, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/supporting-energy-pricing-reform-and-carbon-pricing-policies-through-crediting}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }