An Agroecosystem Scale Evaluation of the Sustainability Implications of Carbon Tax and Carbon Credit Policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses an agroecosystem simulation model to evaluate the impact of carbon tax and carbon credit policies on both the sustainability of a regional agroecosystem and the net emission of carbon dioxide from the agroecosystem. The structure of the Sustainable Agroecosystem Model (SAM) is described and the data used to parameterize the model for an agroecosystem in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada is presented. The simulation results indicate that the carbon tax had no significant effect on carbon dioxide emissions or environmental sustainability but decreased economic sustainability, while the carbon credit significantly decreased carbon dioxide emissions and generally increased environmental and economic sustainability. KEYWORDS: Climate change policygreenhouse gasessustainabilitysimulation modelling