Public Finance and Ecological Transition:

A Comparative Perspective in Tunisia and Saudi Arabia

Zohra Hassan Samaali

 

Abstract: This article analyses the integration of environmental imperatives into public finance through a comparative study of Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. It examines how each State mobilises budgetary instruments to drive the ecological transition forward, building on both the analytical framework developed by the OECD on green budgeting and the specific legal frameworks of each country. The comparison highlights contrasting levels of financial resources as well as divergent approaches to fiscal and budgetary policies, which affect and, in some instances, limit the overall effectiveness of the reforms implemented. While Tunisia rests primarily on environmental taxation—mobilising environmental taxes and fees—to finance its ecological transition, Saudi Arabia relies on a policy framework structured around subsidies and financial incentives to further its environmental ambitions, deploying these instruments extensively within the framework of Vision 2030. The analysis points to several common and country‑specific recommendations. These include accelerating the adoption of the Tunisian draft Environmental Code to provide a unified, coherent and operational legal framework; further mobilising Islamic finance instruments, to diversify sources of funding; and introducing a progressive carbon tax to internalise environmental externalities in Saudi Arabia. These measures are intended to enhance the effectiveness of green public finance and to reinforce ecological transition across distinct institutional contexts.