Meat tax. Can higher food prices reduce emissions?
How can society be persuaded to adopt a diet based on plant products, which is far more beneficial for the global climate? Scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK) suggest introducing a meat tax, arguing that expensive hamburgers will encourage people to choose plant-based foods more often.
The carbon footprint of a cutlet
The agri-food sector currently generates one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet little is said about reducing them. While successive low-carbon and zero-emission technologies are being developed in energy, transport and construction, food production remains a derivative of consumer choices. And most of us cannot imagine a menu without meat.
Beef and lamb are considered products with the highest carbon footprint. This is linked both to enormous methane emissions from animals’ digestive systems and to inefficient land use as pasture. The CO2 Everything portal reports that producing a 100-gram beef steak is associated with the same amount of CO2-equivalent emissions as a 78-kilometre drive in a combustion-engine car.
How a meat tax is supposed to save the Earth
A team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research analysed the impact of diet on climate change and proposed a fiscal solution intended to regulate the food market to the benefit of the environment. It is worth adding that forecasts published in 2023 in the journal Nature show that if humanity does not change its eating habits, they will cause an additional increase in the average global temperature of 1°C by the end of this century.
A meat tax is a solution that appeals to the economic rationality of society. Higher prices for beef, lamb and poultry are meant to encourage people to buy alternative products, including larger amounts of vegetables and fruit, which may bring additional health benefits.
Experts from PIK admit that imposing an actual tax on animal-based food products would be technically difficult, so they suggest an indirect solution in the form of abolishing the reduced VAT rate on meat products that is in force in many countries. Their calculations show that if meat were subject to the standard VAT rate, environmental damage caused by food consumption would fall by 3.48–5.7 percent.
Does this mean higher food prices?
It is hard to expect that a meat tax would prompt most consumers to switch to vegetarianism. We will still buy schnitzels, sausages and tenderloins, but probably in smaller quantities. How would such a change affect total household spending?
Experts from PIK calculated that abolishing the reduced VAT rate on meat products would translate into an increase in the annual household budget in the EU of an average of 109 euros. A significant part of this amount could, however, be offset by additional tax revenues allocated to compensation for consumers. As a result, household food expenditure would increase by only 26 euros per year.
An alternative solution proposed by the Potsdam researchers involves setting fixed price differences for individual products depending on their carbon footprint. The climate effects would be similar, but the burden on household budgets would amount to only 12 euros.
As Michael Sureth from PIK assures, the environmental benefits associated with introducing a meat tax go far beyond emission reductions, including, among other things, a decrease in nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. If this is combined with the redistribution of tax revenues and avoided climate damages, the net changes in overall social welfare will be clearly positive.
A meat tax may also benefit our health. A meta-analysis published in 2024 in the journal Frontiers clearly demonstrates that a diet based on plant products reduces the risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases, positively affecting life expectancy. In the long term, more expensive meat therefore appears to be decidedly good news for the Earth and its inhabitants.
Sources:
https://www.co2everything.com/co2e-of/beef
Plinke, C., Sureth, M. & Kalkuhl, M. Environmental impacts from European food consumption can be reduced with carbon pricing or a value-added tax reform. Nat Food (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01284-y
Tan J, Zhang S, Jiang Y, Li J and Yang C (2024) Plant-based diet and risk of all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front. Nutr. 11:1481363. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1481363
