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The UK government has rejected calls for a ‘meat tax’ as a way to fight against carbon emissions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under increasing pressure to up the price of meat due to its environmental impact.
The government has also been told meat and dairy should ‘take their place alongside tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and fuel. All of which are taxed because of their negative impact on human health or the environment’.
‘Not going to happen’
However, according to the Evening Standard, a senior No10. official recently said: “This is categorically not going to happen.
“We will not be imposing a meat tax on the great British banger or anything else.”
UK Meat tax
Last year, vegan charity PETA urged the UK to implement a meat and dairy tax to ‘lessen the economic fallout after COVID-19 and combat the climate crisis’.
The organization wrote a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. It suggests revenue from such a tax could ease the burden on the NHS. Moreover, the letter says the move will help farmers transition away from meat and dairy to more climate-friendly arable ventures.
Dawn Carr is PETA ‘sdirector of vegan corporate projects. She said: “We must heed the Committee on Climate Change’s call for meat and dairy consumption to be cut down and act on the United Nations’ recommendation that national governments introduce a tax on meat.
“The resulting tax revenue could be used to help meat and dairy farmers make the transition into healthier, more sustainable crop farming at a time when the plant-based food market is booming.”
UK climate targets
The push for a meat tax comes shortly after Johnson’s pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions by more than two-thirds in the next decade.
The politician described the targets as ‘ambitious’. However, he says they are necessary to set the country ‘on course o hit net zero by 2050’.
He said, in comparison with 1990, there will be a decrease of 68 percent in annual carbon emissions by 2030.
