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The distributional and nutritional impacts and mitigation potential of emission-based food taxes in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Ariane Kehlbacher

    (University of Reading)

  • Richard Tiffin

    (University of Reading)

  • Adam Briggs

    (University of Oxford)

  • Mike Berners-Lee

    (University of Reading)

  • Peter Scarborough

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

Agriculture and food production are responsible for a substantial proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. An emission based food tax has been proposed as one option to reduce food related emissions. This study introduces a method to measure the impacts of emission based food taxes at a household level which involves the use of data augmentation to account for the fact that the data record purchases and not consumption. The method is applied to determine the distributional and nutritional impacts of an emission based food tax across socio-economic classes in the UK. We find that a tax of £2.841/tCO2e on all foods would reduce food related emissions by 6.3 % and a tax on foods with above average levels of emissions would reduce emissions by 4.3 %. The tax burden falls disproportionately on households in the lowest socio-economic class because they tend to spend a larger proportion of their food expenditure on emission intensive foods and because they buy cheaper products and therefore experience relatively larger price increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariane Kehlbacher & Richard Tiffin & Adam Briggs & Mike Berners-Lee & Peter Scarborough, 2016. "The distributional and nutritional impacts and mitigation potential of emission-based food taxes in the UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 121-141, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:137:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1673-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1673-6
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    Cited by:

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    2. Caillavet, France & Fadhuile, Adélaïde & Nichèle, Véronique, 2019. "Assessing the distributional effects of carbon taxes on food: Inequalities and nutritional insights in France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 20-31.
    3. Alban Thomas, 2020. "Is there a win-win scenario with both limited beef production and reduced beef consumption?," Working Papers hal-02790948, HAL.
    4. Tiboldo, Giulia & Boehm, Rebecca & Shah, Farhed & Moro, Daniele & Castellari, Elena, 2022. "Taxing the heat out of the U.S. food system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    5. Elisabeth H.M. Temme & Reina E. Vellinga & Henri de Ruiter & Susanna Kugelberg & Mirjam van de Kamp & Anna Milford & Roberta Alessandrini & Fabio Bartolini & Alberto Sanz-Cobena & Adrian Leip, 2020. "Demand-Side Food Policies for Public and Planetary Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Gaupp, F. & Ruggeri Laderchi, C. & Lotze-Campen, H. & DeClerck, F. & Bodirsky, B. L. & Lowder, S. & Popp, A. & Kanbur, R. & Edenhofer, O. & Nugent, R. & Fanzo, J. & Dietz, S. & Nordhagen, S. & Fan, S., 2021. "Food system development pathways for healthy, nature-positive and inclusive food systems," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113421, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Caillavet, F. & Fadhuile, A. & Nichèle, V., 2018. "Assessing the distributional effects of carbon taxes on food: inequalities and nutritional insights," Working Papers 2018-12, Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory (GAEL).
    8. Christine Cleghorn & Ingrid Mulder & Alex Macmillan & Anja Mizdrak & Jonathan Drew & Nhung Nghiem & Tony Blakely & Cliona Ni Mhurchu, 2022. "Can a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tax on Food also Be Healthy and Equitable? A Systemised Review and Modelling Study from Aotearoa New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Vandyck, Toon & Weitzel, Matthias & Wojtowicz, Krzysztof & Rey Los Santos, Luis & Maftei, Anamaria & Riscado, Sara, 2021. "Climate policy design, competitiveness and income distribution: A macro-micro assessment for 11 EU countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    10. Zhang, Qishi & Li, Bo & Liu, Jing-Yu & Deng, Yizhi & Zhang, Runsen & Wu, Wenchao & Geng, Yong, 2024. "Assessing the distributional impacts of ambitious carbon pricing in China's agricultural sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    11. Chalmers, Neil & Revoredo-Giha, Cesar, 2017. "Designing a healthy and sustainable diet," 91st Annual Conference, April 24-26, 2017, Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland 258622, Agricultural Economics Society.

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