Das Projekt "Wirtschaftliche und soziale Folgen einer Entwicklung hin zu oekologischer Nachhaltigkeit mittels Steuerreformen" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von INFRAS AG - Forschung und Beratung durchgeführt. Objective: To assess the implications for equity (income distribution) of the move towards environmental sustainability in various countries within Europe, and in the EU as a whole. General Information: OBJECTIVES: To assess the implications for equity (income distribution) of the move towards environmental sustainability in various countries within Europe, and in the EU as a whole. DESCRIPTION: The problems of data collection and analysis, particularly those concerned with the distributional aspects of income and expenditures, are addressed in respect of relevant potential and actual environmental policy measures. Data is drawn from Germany, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland and the EU as a whole. i) Evaluation of Measures. The project examines the likely effects of a variety of proposed fiscal measures with environmental objectives, including both tax-based measures, such as carbon or sulphur taxes, and expenditure-based measures, such as incentives for energy-saving and/or investment in infrastructure. ii) Distributional Implications of Environmental Policies. The income distributional effects of taxes on environmentally sensitive goods such as home heating oil; the revenue recycling from these taxes as well as other environmental benefits are examined. The project develops scenarios which allow the assessment of the overall effects of the measures described in i) and in part the effects shown in ii) above. These will be presented in a form helpful to policy evaluation.