Agreements following Cop26 have opened several avenues for environmental research, and the question of whether we should consider offsetting the Climate Crisis through fiscal policy, such as a Carbon Tax.
Dr. Tahani Mohammed, Accounting, Finance & Taxation Lecturer at Bournemouth University (BU), hosted a Carbon Tax Conference which took a holistic approach to answer this question, considering the impact on all involved enterprises.
Guest speakers at the Conference included Dr. Alan Kirkpatrick, Senior Lecturer in Financial Accounting & Services at BU, Eleanor Wills, Sustainability Support Officer at BU, and several external guest speakers including Dr. Martin Rodger, Climate Activist, Tanya Bellows, Food Champion & Researcher, and representatives from the Word Forest Organisation.
The conference aimed to:
- Conduct research and collect primary data on select focus groups, including Organisations, Charities, and Sustainable Households to survey the acceptability and plausibility of a Carbon Tax.
- Communicate and build early relationships between BU and the environmental community on a local level for future collaborative efforts against the Climate Crisis.
- Educate and drive broader environmental thinking through a variety of presentations with varying academic opinions and data sources.
Dr. Tahani Mohamed said: “The event went very well. We had several brilliant speakers who offered interesting insight from their professional perspective, and we discussed the subject of a carbon tax, climate change, and inequality, along with many other factors.”
Thomas Brooksby, BU Economics graduate added: "I had angled a lot of my research and unit work around environmental economic aspects, such as risk analysis on Energy Independence as the Russian/Ukrainian War unfolded, so being able to interact with different groups on current challenges and hear from various local authorities on the matter was great to be involved with.”
BU, MSc Finance student, Hobby Simuchile, said, “I found the content that each speaker presented, very informative, and I was amazed by the conversations their presentations sparked among the attendees.”
This research has enabled relationships to be strengthened between BU and local SME’s (small and mid-size enterprises) the council, and local charities, whilst discussing important questions around sustainability, consumption, and production; pushing forward climate action on a regional scale.
Each speaker had time to present from their perspective regarding the Carbon Tax, and the research contributions and findings can be read in the Conference summary.
