Indonesia could more than double its tax revenue by protecting forests and selling the resulting carbon emission credits instead of timber and palm oil, a University of Michigan researcher told Bloomberg.
Gabriel Thoumi, a consultant and fellow at the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, estimates that carbon credits would generate $515 million a year in tax revenue starting in 2013 for the Indonesian government. By comparison, tax revenue from logging and palm oil is presently around $258 million a year. Thoumi's calculations are based on the assumption that Indonesia could sell 750 million metric tons of credits annually at a price of $11.50 per ton. United Nations-certified emission reduction credits for delivery in 2008 currently trade at nearly $21 per ton.
 |
