Environmental pricing reform

Environmental pricing reform (EPR) or Ecological fiscal reform (EFR) is a fiscal policy of adjusting market prices to account for environmental costs and benefits; this is accomplished by the utilization of any forms of taxation or subsidy to incentivize or disincentivize practices with environmental impacts.

An externality (a type of market failure) exists where a market price omits environmental costs and/or benefits. In such a situation, rational (self-interested) economic decisions can lead to environmental harm, as well as to economic distortions and inefficiencies.

Environmental pricing reform can be economy-wide, or more focused (e.g. specific to a sector (such as electric power generation or mining) or a particular environmental issue (such as climate change). A "market-based instrument" or "economic instrument for environmental protection" is an individual instance of Environmental Pricing Reform. Examples include green tax-shifting (ecotaxation), tradeable pollution permits, or the subsidization of markets for ecological services.