A call to introduce meat taxes in EU

A sharp reduction in meat and milk consumption is essential to tackle climate change. Meat taxes are a well-debated solution to this issue. A recent report that quantified the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other air and water pollution and biodiversity loss associated with meat production, proposes that this cost should be added as a levy on meat prices in Europe. The levy would vary between different kinds of meat – for beef as an example it implies an extra cost of €0.47 per 100g. The report suggests that this levy, which would raise the price of a steak by about 25 percent, should be integrated in the Farm to Fork strategy, which is part of the European Green Deal. This would potentially lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 120 million tons per year. Additionally, this levy would yield an extra €32 billion, of which half should be used to support farmers who want to shift their production away from meat, according to the authors. Further, they suggest that the other half should be used to subsidize plant-based foods, support poor families and help developing countries to take measures to counter climate change.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/ eu-meat-tax-climate-emergency