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THE CYCLE – REDUCE
KICK THE HABIT
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investment, or simply pay back the amount equally to every inhabitant, as
is done in Switzerland with the CO
2
tax
on fossil heating fuels. At the
Germany has introduced several eco-taxes. The first was on electricity and petrol,
at variable rates based on environmental factors; renewable electricity is not taxed.
The second adjusted taxes to favour efficient conventional power plants, and the
third increased the petrol tax. At the same time, income taxes were reduced pro-
portionally so that the total tax burden remained constant. This is a crucial issue
in countries where citizens have a say on taxation. Often, a law will not pass if it
implies additional funds for the state. But if it is income-neutral and only penalises
those who pollute more to reward the ones who pollute less, there is a higher
chance that the new law will pass.
same time revenue can be used to create incentives and compensate those
companies who invest in climate friendly alternatives.
But not everybody is convinced that taxing environmentally-unfriendly prod-
ucts or activities is the way forward. Mark Moody-Stuart, ex-chairman of Shell,
told the London
Times
that merely taxing “gas-guzzling” cars allowed the rich
to evade responsibility for climate change: “When we eliminated coal fires in
London we didn’t say to people in Chelsea you can pay a bit more and toast your
crumpets in front of an open fire. We said nobody could have an open fire.”
New Zealand, one of the founder members of the UNEP Climate Neutral
Network, has a public information site (
www.sustainability.govt.nz) to enlist
and encourage everyone concerned to reduce their footprint. Leading by ex-
ample, its Carbon Neutral Public Sector Initiative seeks to demonstrate the
Government’s leadership on sustainability and achieving climate neutrality.
The programme aims to offset the GHG emissions of an initial group of
six governmental agencies by 2012. Unavoidable emissions will be offset,
primarily through indigenous forest regeneration projects on conservation
land. All 34 public service agencies were due to have emission reduction
plans in place by December 2007.
How we move
Mobility is getting cheaper for many people (though not everyone) in industrial
countries, often so cheap that we scarcely notice the cost. For the atmosphere,
though, the price is getting higher all the time, because most methods of trans-