Cement, Energy and Environment

the project will not progress without conducting a proper environmental impact assessment and obtaining all statutory clearances." Adding: "the company, in line with the employment policy of the state, would give preference to the residents of Meghalaya for all employment opportunities. The Durbar has reaffirmed support of the Elaka people for the project and Lafarge will partner the local communities for sustainable development of the region in the best interest of all stake– holders," the release said. Courtesy: The Business Standard, November 9, 2010, P4. ENVIRONMENTAL TAXATION TO BOOST GREEN TECHNOLOGY, SAYSOECD Taxes on pollution provide clear incentives to polluters to reduce emissions and seek cleaner alternatives New Delhi, October 13, The Organisation for Economic cooperation and Development (OECD) said on 13.10.2010 that Governments could make better use of environmental taxes to discourage pollution and boost innovative "green technologies". In a latest report on Taxation, Innovation and the Environment, released in .Paris, the inter-Governmental think tank of 33 rich industrial countries said OECD and many other Governments already apply a host of taxes to energy, air and water pollutants and waste. Starting that environmental taxes, along with tradable permit systems remain the most cost– effective and efficient environmental policy available, it said citizens and industry react to green taxes by changing their behaviour, especially if the Government gives a strong signal that they intend to maintain tax rates and the price of carbon at high levels in the long-term. Incentives The report said taxes on pollution provide clear incentives to polluters to reduce emissions and seek cleaner alternatives. By placing a Director cost on environmental damage, profit maximizing firms have increased incentives to economize on its use, just like other inputs to production. Compared to other environmental instruments such as regulations concerning emission intensities or technology prescriptions, environmentally-related taxation encourages both the lowest cost abatement across polluters and provides fillips for abatement at each unit of pollution. These taxes could also be a highly transparent policy approach, allowing citizens to clearly see if individual sectors or pollution sources are being favoured over others. The report said the use of environmentally-related taxation and emission trading systems is widening in OECD economies and said an expanding number of jurisdictions were using taxes and charges in areas like waste disposal and on specific pollutants. Besides, Governments were making their extant environmentally-related taxes more efficient, both economically and environmentally, it added. Technology Further, even for firms that do not have the resources to undertake formalized R&D activities, the mere existence of environmentally-related taxation provides increased incentives to bring in the latest technologies that have already been developed elsewhere. Illustrating this, it said in Sweden, the introduction of a tax on NOx emissions led to a dramatic spurt in the adoption of existing abatement technology - only 7 per cent of firms had adopted abatement technology in the year that the tax was introduced, but the fraction rose to 62 per cent in the following year. The report said the wider context plays a key role in shaping the innovation outcomes of environmentally– related taxation - a country's intellectual property rights regime, the system of higher education and cultural norms towards innovation all contribute to its innovation capacity, it said, adding that in the Israeli case study, innovations observed in the water sector might resulted from an innovative culture spanning several decades. In Sweden, the introduction of a tax on smog-causing NOxemissions prompted companies to patent new clean technologies and reduce emissions by one- third, the report noted. Finally the OECD said a conducive milieu for innovation, characterized by credible policy commitment and predictability in the tax rates, is also crucial ingredient to encourage investment in innovative activities. Such green growth policies, the OECD asserted, could spur economic growth, while preventing environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and unsustainable natural resource use. Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, October 14, 2010. P4. 77