Environmental pollution: new study finds that polluters do not pay for the damage they cause
To a very large extent, EU polluters do not pay for the environmental damage that they cause, imposing health and clean-up costs on the whole society instead. These were the findings of a new Commission study on ‘Green taxation and other economic instruments’.
To a very large extent, EU polluters do not pay for the environmental damage that they cause, imposing health and clean-up costs on the whole society instead. These were the findings of a new Commission study on ‘Green taxation and other economic instruments’Search for available translations of the preceding link•••. The study shows that the costs of pollution and environmental damage greatly exceed the revenues generated from taxes and other economic instruments to tackle polluting activities. This is the case across the board: for all pollutants, in all EU Member States and across all sectors of the economy. The study also calls for wider use of environmental taxation and other economic instruments to send a strong signal to polluters to reduce their emissions, and to avoid charges falling disproportionately on poorer households.
The Commission will support national rollouts of green taxes and economic instruments, in particular through the European Semester processSearch for available translations of the preceding link••• where it can recommend the identified good practices as part of its dialogue with Member States. Building on the results of the study, the Commission launched the ‘Greening taxes – applying polluter pays principle in practice’ flagship initiative as one of the support projects under the Technical Support Instrument, the EU programme that provides tailor-made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms.
