https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180716114501.htm

"Currently we have a twofold problem," explains lead author Max Franks from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK): "There is a huge underprovision of basic necessary public goods such as public health systems, access to schools and clean water. On the other hand greenhouse gas emissions are still rising and there is an overuse of the atmosphere, a global common good, as a disposal space for these emissions." So far, the two problems have mostly been dealt with separately. "But if you look at both climate and sustainable development policies at the same time, it turns out that carbon pricing could indeed address both problems simultaneously and effectively," Franks says.

A switch from today's fossil fuel subsidies to carbon prices for carbon dioxide emissions could generate additional revenue for governments to finance progress towards sustainable development, the scientists find in their study published in Nature Sustainability. Redirecting fossil fuel subsidies alone could completely cover public financing needs for the SDGs in Egypt, and to a large extent in other lower and lower-middle income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, like Togo, the Republic of Congo and Senegal, the researchers show. "Moreover, revenues of a combined fiscal reform that removes subsidies and replaces them with a substantial carbon price could provide more than two thirds of the public funds required for the SDG agenda for several countries in South- and Southeast Asia," Franks explains. "In India, more than 90 percent of the entire public financing needs for the SDGs could be covered, as our study shows, so there really is a huge potential of making use of carbon price dollars for health, education, and other public goods."