Accounting instruments of governance

Portugal has strong difficulty to control the adopted currency (since the transition from Escudo to Euro), is with imposed wider rules (European Union legislation and international agreements) and has global goals (as handle the climate change). In this global context, fiscal measures and price adjustments appear to be the most cost efficient way and the most promising instruments to achieve goals. Putting an end to environmentally harmful fiscal loopholes can also contribute greatly to reduce budget deficits. Thereby, the concern has resulted, in recent years, on the exponential focus on tax legislation reforms and on use of Market Based Instruments (MBI) to achieve a decarbonised economy, fostering energy efficiency on consumption and promoting renewable energies on production. However, with few exceptions, e.g. Sweden and Denmark, MBI are presently not making much progress in Europe, and in short-time will not make while there is easy money, cheap energy, unnecessary waste and weak regulation. The fiscal instruments adopted in most European Countries are often made as the need arise, are essentially on a national context and with strong tendencies to sacrifice environmental protection: eco-taxes are being reduced, progress of emission trading is slowed and many countries are make short-sighted compromises on existing or planned ecological regulation (maintaining only the ones that could increase the budget). The fundamental concept is that environmental development is economically expensive (if not destructive) and therefore a fast recovery, to save jobs and industries, come first than environmental goals. The current crisis reinforces this old thinking that these are rival interests. Methods to support decision to promote overall efficiency goal´s behaviour are essential and should rise, changing the paradigm to: achieving environmental goals could be an answer to unemployment reduction and industries recovery.