The CSR Newsletters are a freely-available resource generated as a dynamic complement to the textbook, Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation.

To sign-up to receive the CSR Newsletters regularly during the fall and spring academic semesters, e-mail author David Chandler at david.chandler@ucdenver.edu.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Strategic CSR - Global carbon tax

Over the summer, you may have noticed the EU's roadmap of how it plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 (benchmarked to some point in the 1990s), a plan it labelled "Fit for 55." Central to that plan is the idea that the EU will impose a carbon tariff on imports from countries with lower carbon emissions rules than the EU (which, I am guessing, is all countries outside the EU). While there are plenty of geopolitics at stake reading between the lines, the enticing element of this tariff plan is its implications for a global carbon tax, as explained in the article in the url below:

"A global carbon tax is viewed by many economists as the most efficient approach to decarbonizing industry, but creating one has always seemed a political impossibility. A new European Union carbon border tax just might start to change that."

The key is the tax on all imports to the EU from countries with more lax standards on carbon emissions than the EU:

"The levy—called a 'carbon border adjustment mechanism,' or CBAM—is part of a wide-ranging package adjusting EU rules to meet new climate ambitions. The measure is intended to both level the playing field between foreign and domestic producers and cut the risk that local companies relocate outside the EU to avoid the bloc's stringent rules. As drafted, CBAM could open a path to a global carbon price by establishing a cost of carbon on some imports into the EU, one of the world's biggest markets."

The hope seems to be that the U.S. will join the EU by imposing a similar tariff (see here). This is partly because if the EU and U.S. have a similar approach, it has a better chance of affecting other countries, but also it would avoid the complicated eventuality of the EU imposing a costly tax on imports from the U.S. Another motivator, as with all tax proposals, is the opportunity to collect revenue. In this case, the U.S. would prefer to collect the revenue themselves, as opposed to allowing the EU to collect it instead:

"While that level of cooperation currently seems unlikely, the estimated €9 billion in annual CBAM-related income the EU anticipates by 2030 might tempt politicians to act so that they collect the cash instead of Brussels."

The proposed effect is broad – so much so that the commentary around the tariff is that it will affect, in essence, all industries and products:

"CBAM will target aluminum, cement, fertilizer, power, steel and iron. Companies from regions without similar carbon costs would need to buy CBAM credits for the verified emissions released in the production of their imports into the EU. The price will be linked to the carbon cost determined by the EU's Emissions Trading System, currently over €50 a metric ton."

But, again, the tantalizing prospect is that the effect will be global and, in essence, establish a global tax on carbon:

"A global carbon price remains a fanciful notion for now, but something resembling it could take shape if the EU's CBAM, like its ETS, sets an example for other regimes to learn from. Much depends on the ambitions of Washington."

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


Europe's Carbon Prices Are Going Global
By Rochelle Toplensky
July 15, 2021
The Wall Street Journal
Late Edition – Final
B12
 

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Strategic CSR - Uber/Lyft

The article in the url below reports on recent research that conducts a marginal cost-benefit analysis for each person that switches from a private car to only using a ride-hail company. The premise for the research was the promise that Uber and Lyft originally made to justify their business models:

"A decade ago, Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. charged into cities with a promise: By reducing personal car trips, ride-hailing businesses could both ease traffic and bolster the use of public transit. What happened was the reverse: A host of pre-pandemic research linked the rise of these services to sharp upticks in traffic and waning ridership on buses and trains."

The results were quite surprising. Even more surprising is that, even if all the Uber and Lyft vehicles become electric, that is still not going to tip the balance:

"Now a new study puts a price on the external costs that come with switching from a personal vehicle to one from a transportation network company (or TNC): about 35 cents per trip on average. And it finds that even a fully electrified fleet of ride-hailing cars may not fully mitigate the extra toll they exact on society compared to driving yourself."

Some detail about the study (see also, here):

"To determine the role that ride-hailing plays in generating these often-hidden effects, [the authors] simulated replacing 100,000 private passenger vehicle trips with TNC trips in six U.S. cities, using publicly available ride-hailing data from New York City, Austin, Chicago and the state of California. Through a review of other studies that have quantified the externalities of driving in general, such as local air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and traffic deaths, they approximated the dollar amounts that society saves or spends when travelers choose Uber or Lyft over their own automobiles."

Of course, there are some benefits, but the net effect is pretty clear:

"Ride-hailing helps on at least one front, the researchers found: air pollution. … But that benefit was undone by the negative impacts of deadheading, or the time in between trips when drivers are traveling passenger-free to their next pickup."

The overall result?

"All told, switching from a private car to a TNC increased net external costs by 30% to 35%, or about 35 cents per trip. … In other words, even a fully electrified ride-hailing industry — the likes of which Uber and Lyft have both promised by 2030 — would not be enough to make up for the congestion and deaths created by the added TNC miles."

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


That Uber or Lyft Trip May Be Worse for the Planet Than Driving Yourself
By Laura Bliss
September 30, 2021
Bloomberg

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Strategic CSR - Welcome back!

 
Welcome back to the Strategic CSR Newsletter!
The first newsletter of the Spring semester is below.
As always, your comments and ideas are welcome.
 

The article in the url below should bring a smile to your face:

"A German court has ruled that a man who slipped while walking a few metres from his bed to his home office can claim on workplace accident insurance as he was technically commuting."

Not that breaking your back is something to smile about—more that it feels like the kind of story that makes sense given the last couple of years. Injury and pain aside, the story gets quite funny in its detailed analysis:

"The court noted that the employee usually started working in his home office 'immediately without having breakfast beforehand,' but did not explain why that was relevant to the case. However, later it said that statutory accident insurance was only afforded to the 'first' journey to work, suggesting that a trip on the way to get breakfast after already being in the home office could be rejected."

There was no mention of whether the man can claim his pajamas as a tax-deductible work clothes expense.

Hope you all had a good break and have a good semester.

Take care
David

David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020

Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e 
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/


Fall on walk from bed to desk is workplace accident, German court rules
By Oliver Holmes
December 9, 2021
The Guardian