LONDON (Reuters) - Carbon prices in major advanced economies are too low to cut greenhouse gas emissions and stave off the worst effects of climate change, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday.
Carbon pricing, via taxes or emissions trading schemes, is used by many governments to make energy consumers pay for the costs of pollution, and to spur investment in low-carbon technology.
The OECD examined carbon pricing between 2012, 2015 and 2018 in 42 OECD and G20 economies, which represent around 80 percent of global carbon emissions.
It found the average pricing level across the countries in 2018 was 76.5 percent lower than the benchmark 30 euros (26 pounds) a tonne it said is needed.
The pricing gap had narrowed, from 79.5 percent in 2015, but "carbon prices need to increase considerably more quickly than they have done in recent years in order to ensure a cost-effective low-carbon transition", the report said.
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Dale Hudson)