Farming minister: UK needs carbon taxes to push farmers to be more eco-friendly
The UK is edging towards taxes on the meat sector, which is a high polluter, according to the farming minister.
Speaking to The Telegraph, environment and food secretary George Eustice said the country must “move into the realms of things like carbon taxes” when existing EU agricultural subsidies are eventually phased out.
The Government is looking at a new tax system for food producers that contribute greatly to climate change, including meat and dairy.
Officials hope this would slash carbon emissions and help UK farmers compete with post-Brexit imports.
However, a new levy would likely raise the price of red meat.
The Government’s modeling stated that prices were already set to rise in real terms by 10 per cent over the next five years, Eustice told the newspaper.
A planned restructuring of £3.5bn EU agricultural subsidies is set to push farmers to produce more eco-friendly food over the next seven years.
The minister added: “Beyond that, you then start to move into the realms of things like carbon taxes. But we need to do the thinking about it now.”
Looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, Eustice said carbon border taxes could also be brought in to “encourage countries like Australia, like New Zealand, to tackle their own greenhouse gas emissions”.
He added said: “If there are other countries in the world that don’t pull their weight, and don’t do their share, you know, at some point you will have to find a way of reflecting that in international trade.”
He said: “The Treasury and BEIS [the business department] are doing a piece of work on this. Ideally for it to work obviously it would be agreed multilaterally.”