As several cities in the U.S. prepare to vote on soda taxes, researchers say that taxing more of our foods based on their climate impact would do a lot to help the planet and our health, says The Guardian. A 40-percent surcharge on beef, for instance, would produce a 13-percent decline in consumption, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The researchers determined how high taxes would need to be on specific foods in order to mitigate their climate impact. “Food production causes a quarter of all the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global warming, largely from the raising of cattle and other livestock,” says The Guardian. By adopting the study’s proposed tax plan, governments could reduce world carbon emissions by 1 billion tons a year — “the same as the entire aviation industry.”
What’s good for the planet would also be good for human health. Climate taxes could save more than half a million premature deaths every year, especially in Europe, the U.S., Australia and China, where meat consumption is highest, says The Guardian.
Marco Springmann, from the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, which led the study, said, “It is clear that if we don’t do something about the emissions from our food system, we have no chance of limiting climate change below 2C.” Springmann acknowledged that the largest hurdle to enacting a climate change-based food tax is politics. People get angry — even violent — when they hear that food prices are going up.
To minimize the backlash, Springmann and his colleagues have proposed that tax collections go toward subsidizing healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, and ensuring that low-income communities can afford nourishing meals.