Enhancing fairness in climate action through policy packages

IF 26.9 1区地球科学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Nature Climate Change Pub Date : 2026-10-13 DOI:10.1038/s41558-026-02751-5

Toon Vandyck,Umed Temursho,Florian Landis,David Klenert,Matthias Weitzel

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Abstract

Abstract Achieving a fair transition to climate neutrality requires a careful balancing of policy options. Here we quantitatively evaluate the equity implications of different European Union climate policy packages, considering pricing, regulation via standards, subsidies and transfers. Leveraging an integrated modelling framework, we show that standards limit impact variability within income groups, whereas carbon pricing with transfer-based revenue recycling offsets regressive impacts between income groups. Restricting climate policy implementation to either option, therefore, gives rise to a trade-off between horizontal and vertical equity. We then demonstrate numerically how a multi-instrument budget-neutral policy package can resolve this trade-off. Adopting a broader equity perspective that encompasses both horizontal and vertical equity shifts the preferred policy mix towards a combination of standards, pricing, subsidies and transfers. These results provide an explicit, quantified, equity-based rationale for the adoption and acceptability of comprehensive climate policy packages, offering a more nuanced view on policy design.

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通过一揽子政策提高气候行动的公平性

实现向气候中和的公平过渡需要仔细平衡政策选择。在这里，我们定量评估了不同的欧盟气候政策一揽子计划对公平的影响，考虑了定价、标准监管、补贴和转移。利用综合建模框架，我们表明，标准限制了收入群体内部影响的可变性，而基于转移的收入循环的碳定价抵消了收入群体之间的递减影响。因此，将气候政策的实施限制在两种选择中任选一种，就会导致横向公平与纵向公平之间的权衡。然后，我们从数字上展示了多工具预算中性政策一揽子计划如何解决这种权衡。采用包括横向和纵向平等的更广泛的公平观点，使首选的政策组合转向标准、定价、补贴和转移的组合。这些结果为全面气候政策方案的采用和可接受性提供了明确的、量化的、基于公平的理论依据，为政策设计提供了更细致入微的观点。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Nature Climate Change ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

CiteScore

40.30

自引率

1.60%

发文量

267

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Nature Climate Change is dedicated to addressing the scientific challenge of understanding Earth's changing climate and its societal implications. As a monthly journal, it publishes significant and cutting-edge research on the nature, causes, and impacts of global climate change, as well as its implications for the economy, policy, and the world at large. The journal publishes original research spanning the natural and social sciences, synthesizing interdisciplinary research to provide a comprehensive understanding of climate change. It upholds the high standards set by all Nature-branded journals, ensuring top-tier original research through a fair and rigorous review process, broad readership access, high standards of copy editing and production, rapid publication, and independence from academic societies and other vested interests. Nature Climate Change serves as a platform for discussion among experts, publishing opinion, analysis, and review articles. It also features Research Highlights to highlight important developments in the field and original reporting from renowned science journalists in the form of feature articles. Topics covered in the journal include adaptation, atmospheric science, ecology, economics, energy, impacts and vulnerability, mitigation, oceanography, policy, sociology, and sustainability, among others.