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Externality taxes like this will be absolutely necessary to correct for "the free market's" inability to price in its own pollution.
But they must be brought in alongside a full package of reforms. Putting up heating costs without insulating houses will kill people. https://twitter.com/paullewismoney/status/1357236286076162051
But they must be brought in alongside a full package of reforms. Putting up heating costs without insulating houses will kill people. https://twitter.com/paullewismoney/status/1357236286076162051
Increasing food prices in a country where penurious wages and a deliberately malicious welfare system cause food poverty already would also be devastating.
We need an actual Living Wage, better labour rights and a UBI. (The Tories are ideologically against all of these)
We need an actual Living Wage, better labour rights and a UBI. (The Tories are ideologically against all of these)
A couple of case studies on the prospect of a carbon tax on food though.
The IMF suggests a carbon tax of $75/tonne_CO2 to keep temps below +2C (up from a global average of $2/tonne).
+2C is a failure so let's double it to $150/tonne_CO2. £110/tonne. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/carbon-tax-most-powerful-way-to-combat-climate-change-imf.html
The IMF suggests a carbon tax of $75/tonne_CO2 to keep temps below +2C (up from a global average of $2/tonne).
+2C is a failure so let's double it to $150/tonne_CO2. £110/tonne. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/carbon-tax-most-powerful-way-to-combat-climate-change-imf.html
Taking the data here for example:
http://flexibristol.org/the-impact-of-cheese/#:~:text=This%20report%20found%20that%2013.5,5kg%20for%20eggs%20%5B2%5D.
http://flexibristol.org/the-impact-of-cheese/#:~:text=This%20report%20found%20that%2013.5,5kg%20for%20eggs%20%5B2%5D.
Cheese costs about 13.5kg_CO2 per kilo of cheese delivered. About 13kg is estimated for production costs (the post-production costs will be taxed elsewhere).
This results in a carbon tax of 57p per 400g block of cheese.
At my local shop, that would represent about a 13% increase
This results in a carbon tax of 57p per 400g block of cheese.
At my local shop, that would represent about a 13% increase
Beef is about 24kg_CO2/kg_beef. This would make the carbon tax about £2.64/kg or £1.98 on a 750g pack of mince. About a 55% increase based on my local prices.
Dry lentils only come in at about 0.5kg_CO2/kg_lentils.
Our carbon tax on them would therefore be about 6p/kg_lentils. So I would expect the price of my local 1kg bag of lentils to only increase by 3%.
Our carbon tax on them would therefore be about 6p/kg_lentils. So I would expect the price of my local 1kg bag of lentils to only increase by 3%.
You can see then how a carbon tax would significantly shift "the market" from high pollution food to low pollution food and also why folk say that a vegetarian or vegan diet can significantly reduce your personal carbon footprint.
Even just swapping beef for chicken has a positive impact (I'm not vegetarian though I have been reducing meat consumption as well as trying to avoid air miles in my food).
But, as I say, this must be done alongside a full package of environmental measures otherwise all it will do is increase food poverty and hammer small producers who can't absorb the tax elsewhere.
And please note that carbon isn't the only factor in environmental agriculture. Fertilizer runoff and soil degradation must be counted too. It's possible to do "zero-carbon" in a very unsustainable way too.
Check out our Common Home Plan for more on our work in agriculture and environment as well as everything else we need to change to achieve a Green New Deal. /End
https://commonweal.scot/our-common-home
https://commonweal.scot/our-common-home
