Achieving global climate goals requires a rapid and just green transition, especially in emerging and developing economies where industrial decarbonisation and renewable energy deployment remain urgent priorities. At the same time, many governments face tight fiscal space and rising pressure to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation (DRM) to finance development priorities and deliver on the SDGs.
In this context, governments are increasingly relying on a diverse mix of fiscal, regulatory, and trade and investment measures often deployed as part of broader industrial strategies to catalyse change. Among these, green tax incentives have emerged as a key instrument to mobilise private investment, lower the cost of clean energy technologies, and accelerate the shift to low-carbon and resilient growth.
The use of green tax incentives raises important questions of policy coherence, effectiveness, and accountability. Recent analysis by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) indicates that many emerging and developing economies are adapting tax policies to support clean investment and renewable energy deployment. In low-income contexts facing administrative and fiscal constraints, tax incentives may sometimes be perceived as a more feasible option than alternative support mechanisms such as feed-in tariffs. However, poorly designed incentives can also generate revenue losses, fail to attract investment, and opportunities for rent-seeking underscoring the importance of governance, targeting, and monitoring.
International experience suggests that incentives are most effective when embedded within a coherent and mutually reinforcing policy framework. A recent paper on industrial decarbonisation by the Council on Economic Policies (CEP) highlights that such incentives must be aligned with regulatory certainty, sectoral priorities, and robust governance to achieve meaningful emissions reductions. Aligning incentives with national development objectives can further ensure that the green transition strengthens competitiveness, supports industrial upgrading, and expands access to clean energy in an inclusive manner.
Against this background and building on the ATI workshop series on environmental taxation, the ATI, in collaboration with IISD and the CEP, is organising a webinar on the design and governance of green tax incentives. The session will highlight the importance of cross-government coordination, bringing together ministries of finance, climate and energy policymakers, and industrial strategy institutions to support the design and implementation of targeted incentives that deliver emissions reductions alongside jobs, competitiveness, and economic development.
The webinar titled ‘Making green tax incentives work: protecting revenue while accelerating the energy transition’ will take place on Tuesday 2 June 2026 at 13:00–14:30 CEST. More information about the event programme is available here.
Kindly register here by 1 June 2026 to join the event. Upon registering using the link, you will receive a confirmation email which includes the link to the Microsoft Teams meeting.
AGENDA – The webinar will take place in English and French.
| Tuesday, 2 June 2026 | |
|---|---|
| 13.00-13.05 | Welcome and introduction |
| 13.05-13.25 | IISD | Kudzai Mataba, Policy Advisor, Economic Law and Policy • Key findings from EMDE experience: what incentive reforms look like in practice • Incentives and global minimum tax: implications for design choices and revenue protection CEP | Sofia Berg, Fellow • Key lessons on industrial decarbonisation and the role of incentives within coherent policy frameworks • Governance and evaluation: what makes incentives deliver results |
| 13.25-14.25 | Panel discussion and Q&A: Aligning incentives with revenue, climate, and industrial strategy
Speakers: Pande Putu Oka Kusumawardani, Director of Taxation Strategy, MoF Indonesia | Tantely Ravelomanana, Head of the Tax Policy Unit, MoF Madagascar | Herman Volleberg, Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) |
| 14.25-14.30 | Closing reflections and next steps |