Finland

Finnish researcher brings back meat taxation on the table

Safety & Legislation

According to Xavier Irz, taxation must be high enough to influence choices and a tax rate of less than 20% doesn't bring about major changes in diet.

Posted on Jul 29 ,12:42

Economist and food market expert Xavier Irz is promoting the idea of meat taxation in order to reduce carbon emissions on livestock farming. According to his study, an average price estimate of € 15 per tonne of carbon dioxide would be equivalent to a tax of about 18% on high-emission foods and would reduce the climate emissions from Finnish food consumption by 2%.

If the price per tonne of carbon were 200 euros, an 8% reduction in emissions would be achieved. Also, he believes that considering the current profile of the Finnish meat industry only red meat should be taxed. "The important result was that low tax rates change little consumption. If you want a visible change, you need a high tax rate", said Irz, according to maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi.
Nevertheless, meat is also a nutrient in a balanced diet and livestock farming represents an important part in the future. "In a sustainable food system, nutrients are circulating, so animals need to be somewhere. The next challenge for research is to integrate dietary research with production and land use patterns, and to better analyze how dietary change can influence the transition to a sustainable economy", he added. Xavier Irz has researched the issue at the Natural Resources Center and reported the results in an article from the Institute.

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