Benefits of a combined carbon and sugar tax

Lead researcher, Adam Briggs, from the University of Oxford, said: “Agriculture is responsible for up to 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and those arising from food production have negative effects that aren’t borne by the individual buying the food, but by society as a whole. Examples include the health effects of global warming from extreme weather, changing global disease patterns, and airborne pollution, as well as changes to food production patterns and overall availability of energy resources.

“Some studies have found that diets low in greenhouse gases are also better for health, mainly arising from people eating less meat and more plants. However, some foods buck this trend, for example sugar is low in greenhouse gas emissions yet bad for health.  To counter this problem, we modelled the effects of a food carbon tax alongside a 20 per cent tax on sugary soft drinks. We estimated the effect on food purchases”