A 25 per cent tax on meat could help save the climate
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
A Dutch NGO has proposed, on the basis of a scientific study, introducing a 25 per cent tax on meat.
A 25 per cent tax on meat could help save the climate
A Dutch NGO has proposed, on the basis of a scientific study, introducing a 25 per cent tax on meat.
Consuming meat, especially in large quantities, is incompatible with protecting the climate. As far back as 2016, a scientific study published by the Swedish Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg had explained that a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions released in Europe come from livestock farming and the agricultural sector. In particular, nitrous oxide emissions from cultivated land and methane emissions dispersed by livestock could double by 2070. This would be the case if current industrial models were not to be changed — which, the scientists explained, "would make it essentially impossible to meet the emissions reduction targets set by the Paris Agreement".
Raising the steaks 🥩 (by 25%). EU urged to adopt #meattax to tackle #climate emergency theguardian.com/environment/20…
The tax would generate 32 billion euros a year
It is for these reasons that the non-governmental organisation True animal protein price coalition (Tapp coalition) has launched a radical proposal: the introduction of a tax on meat sales capable of increasing the price of a beef steak by 25 per cent. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, numerous environmental organisations support the idea and are calling for the new levy to be incorporated into the new European Green new deal.
In support of the proposal, the organisation has presented a study conducted by the independent research institute Ce Delft, based in the Dutch city of the same name. According to the study, such a tax would allow states to raise 32 billion euros a year, which could be used to launch programmes aimed at enabling farmers and consumers, respectively, to produce and eat higher-quality meat with a lower impact, and, above all, to initiate projects to transform livestock farms into plant-based production sites.
47 euro cents more per 100 grams of beef
The analysis examined the costs of the livestock sector in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and biodiversity loss. To compensate for these damages, the price of beef would need to rise by 47 euro cents per hundred grams. The price of pork would need to increase by 36 euro cents, while poultry would require a rise of 17 cents.
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The authors of the document also hypothesise that, thanks to the tax, beef consumption would fall by 67 per cent in the European Union by 2030. For pork and poultry, the projected falls would be 57 and 30 per cent respectively. This, concludes Tapp coalition director Jeroom Remmers, would also bring benefits from a public health perspective: "Europeans eat at least 50 per cent more meat than the recommended amounts".