Energy prices around the world are too low—far too low.

这是来自International Monetary Fund(IMF),Getting Energy Prices Right: From Principle to Practice, launched today atan event在Center for Global Development。该报告认为，煤炭，天然气，汽油和柴油的成本未能解释这些燃料的环境和社会影响，例如温室气体排放，空气污染和交通死亡。Setting prices that reflect these side effects—through taxes, licensing, or cap-and-trade systems—could reduce deaths from fossil fuel-related air pollution by 63 percent, decrease global carbon dioxide emissions by 23 percent, and generate revenues totaling about 2.6 percent of global GDP.

“It’s bad for an economy to be downgraded, but it’s even worse for it to be degraded,” said Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF. “Our take is that when the environment is degraded, the economy is degraded as well.”

Lagarde was joined by WRI president and CEO,Andrew Steer, and president of the Center for Global Development, Nancy Birdsall, in launching the report earlier today.

Getting the Price Right

该报告列出了156个发展和发展中国家可以为环境和社会损害造成的能量的价格。该报告认为，通过提高价格来说明燃料的“真实”成本，各国将不鼓励其过度使用。

这种税制改革还可以带来重大的社会经济利益。

Birdsall highlighted the current U.S. tax on gasoline, which has been at 18 cents since 1993. “Correcting” this tax to account for gasoline’s environmental impact would raise it to about $1.60—an increase that would raise 0.8 percent of U.S. GDP.

Taxing coal to account for its environmental impact, the report shows, can reduce the使用煤炭and drive adoption of emissions-control technologies, reducing U.S. air pollution-related deaths by 47 percent and those in China by more than 60 percent. “The message is that coal kills, and it’s in the national interest of many countries to deal with the coal problem,” said Birdsall.

The Right Price Won't Burden Consumers

Lagarde noted that taxing fossil fuels doesn’t need to result in higher taxes for citizens. Rather, countries could lower other types of taxes—such as those on income or consumption—if they tax energy.

Lagarde说：“我们不提倡更高的税收，我们说需要更明智的税收。”

A Time for Action

The report makes a compelling case for energy tax reform. But getting countries to actually adopt these reforms is another story.

To that end, Lagarde argues that countries need not wait forinternational cooperation on climate changeto pursue new energy pricing. Accounting for environmental impact makes good economic sense—and national governments can start reaping the benefits now.

“我们今天需要问的问题是，我们到一个转折点有多近？”转向说。“要使这种势头要做什么？”

拉加尔德指出了未能改用更可持续的能源系统的成本。“如果我们什么都不做，我们的命运将与冰融化，像阳光下的水一样蒸发，然后像沙漠风暴中的沙子一样枯萎。”