Tax did handle “essential health and environmental issues of the foods system,” according to an Oxford researcher.
To tackle what academics in Europe and the United States call” important” environmental issues, governments should levy a meat income.
Professor Marco Springmann from the University of Oxford stated to the economic news website Green Queen,” A current tax system that addresses the vital health and environmental challenges of the food system is urgently needed.
A study by Springmann and others at the school’s Climate Change Institute, which calls for increasing value-added levies on meat and dairy in Europe, was just published in the journal Nature Food. In tandem, their studies suggests ending the taxes on fruit and vegetables.
The researchers wrote that higher meat prices would discourage consumption, thus “improv]ing ] not just public health” but also government revenues and decarbonization efforts, the report states.
According to the report, increasing the revenue on foods in Europe would support address” climate change”:
When adjusted for purchasing power parity, food-related tax revenues would increase by a third ( or$ 45 billion ), while greenhouse gas costs would decrease by$ 12 billion, and healthcare costs would decrease by$ 26 billion.
Across Europe, the food system’s emissions would be reduced by 63 million tonnes ( or 6 % ) with higher taxes on meat and dairy and zero-rated fruits and vegetables, while lowering land use by 71, 000 sq km ( 6 % ) and freshwater consumption by 5 %.
Most of these changes were associated with reductions in meat and dairy, including beef ( 32 % ), milk ( 29 % ), pork ( 22 % ), and poultry ( 15 % ). Here, too, the UK and Poland benefitted the most, with climate footprints lowered by 12 % and 9 %, respectively.
Professors at New York University have made a similar case for a duty on foods in the United States. Unlike in Europe, most products in the U. S. are no taxed.
” Most Americans eat foods. In a report published in July, Professors Dale Jamieson and Katrina Wyman wrote that” this attitude has a number of dangerous ramifications for the world, species, and human health.”
In” Designing a ‘ made in America ‘ meat tax” published in the NYU Environmental Law Journal, they linked “greenhouse gasses” to livestock and” climate change”.
They wrote that “recognizing that it is time for U.S. scholars and plan analysts to start looking into possible designs for a meats income that could be used in this region as part of broader societal efforts to decarbonize” as the starting point.
In favor of a plant-based meal, some institutions are also cutting back on meat and dairy intake.
For instance, the University of Michigan’s cafeterias then make wheat milk their “default cheese” instead of cheese, the Michigan Daily information.
Although cheese is also available, restaurant staff advise students to opt for wheat milk, according to the report.
The change, which began in the slide, is part of the public school’s wider effort to reduce its” carbon impact”, MDining Marketing Manager Kelly Guralewski told the Daily.
Further: More students may give up having children, eating meats than cellphones to support climate: poll
IMAGE: Jelena Safronova / Shutterstock
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Instagram.
