Sustainability, Vol. 12, Pages 2872: A Dynamic Spatial Panel of Subnational GHG Emissions: Environmental Effectiveness of Emissions Taxes in Spanish Regions (Sustainability)

In this paper we study the effectiveness of environmental taxes and policies of the regionallevel of government to reduce GHG emissions. We use panel data for the 17 Spanish regions in theperiod 1999–2017, controlling the spatial nexus between regions and using a dynamic Durbinmodel. The results show there is spatial dependence and spatio-temporal persistence of GHGemissions at the regional level in Spain, and that in this context, the taxes and policies intended tomanage emissions introduce a slight disincentive to generating them. This fact, together with somerelative decoupling which seems to exist between growth and emissions at the regional level, wouldsuggest the need for tougher measures to combat environmental pollution in order to meet EUcommitments.