Environmental think tank Green Alliance’s new report ‘Good product, bad product? Making the case for product levies’ challenges the Government to provide clear price signals on products like batteries and packaging to reduce their environmental impact.
The report argues that the way products are designed plays a major role in determining how much energy and water we use, and how much waste we produce.
“Very little Government policy, however, has been directed at changing the nature of products in ways that are radical enough to meet the environmental challenges faced by the UK”, it affirms. “By replacing VAT with a goods tax, graduated according to environmental impact and with exemptions for best-in-class products, the Government could give companies and shoppers an incentive to do the right thing for the environment.”
Julie Hill, the Green Alliance’s waste policy expert, says: “We have a choice: do we want to continue living with stuff which conflicts with living a low carbon, low waste lifestyle or do we want to consume in ways that are smart, pleasurable and sustainable? The market still brings forward products that conflict with the Government’s own environmental goals - from appliances that can’t be taken off stand-by to packaging that can’t be recycled. And without the right price signals this pattern is set to continue. Other European countries do it ,so let’s tax ‘bads’ - not goods.”
According to the Green Fiscal Commission, green tax revenues have actually fallen since New Labour first came to power. Replacing VAT with an environmental goods levy would buck this trend, says the alliance, adding: “At the very least a product levy could be used to promote innovation in the areas of energy, water and resource efficiency and recyclability.”
Contact
Green Alliance
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7630 4529
