Ph.D. Research Project 2012-2016: Environmental Border Taxation
The objective of the doctoral research was to determine the legal limits to the adoption of environmental cross-border taxes, namely taxes on ‘internationally traded goods’ used in order to complement domestic environmental policies for combating global environmental challenges. The research brings coherence to the legal literature surrounding this ‘hot’ topic - which involves legal issues of environmental law, tax law and international trade law - by providing a broad-based analysis of the legal issues that should be considered before the adoption of environmental cross-border taxes, going beyond the question of their WTO law compatibility. The analysis distinguishes between two main mechanisms for the development of environmental cross-border taxes: [1] the mechanism of environmental border tax adjustments (this has been the most discussed by the economic and legal literature) and [2] alternative mechanisms based on other international trade law instruments (in particular the case of environmental tariffs). The research discusses the rationale, tax design and legal framework of these two models.
Research Project 2016-2019: GreeninTax
This research project aims at determining the extent to which tax law surrounding the activities of multinational enterprises could serve as a legal instrument to achieving international climate targets. The research proposal addresses three specific research areas, in which taxation of MNE cross- border activities could potentially foster environmental – and more specifically climate - objectives: [1] the phenomenon of ‘pollution/carbon havens’; [2] the impact of MNE activities on climate change; [3] the special case of developing countries in combating climate change.
