Steering toward net zero—a plea for a consumer-level carbon footprint tax

Abstract Past and current policies appear ineffective in limiting global warming to below 2 °C, as the share of fossil energy has stayed well above 80% for the last 30 years, and global greenhouse gas emissions still show a rising trend. A small but fundamental change in perspective could have the potential to enable a democratically supported last-minute turn toward a sustainable economy. We define a set of criteria that climate policy instruments should ideally meet in order to be both effective and sustainable. For fulfilling these criteria, we rationally propose a paradigm shift with respect to carbon taxing. Instead of taxing emissions at the chimney, our proposal is to re-consider a consumer-level tax on the carbon footprint of products and services combined with a rigorous lump sum refund policy. This could potentially eliminate relevant obstacles for unilateral application of effective carbon prices. We also mention potential challenges with the proposed option. It is our aim to bring the possibility of a consumer-level carbon footprint tax to the attention of the scientific community and to trigger multidisciplinary research on this topic.