Environmental taxes 'not green enough'
Wednesday, 5 March 2008 12:01 AM
The Treasury has "ghettoised" environmental issues when it comes to taxation, MPs say.
The Commons' environmental audit committee says the government's green taxes are failing to meet the challenges of the Stern Review.
This warned in October 2006 that the world faces a major economic crisis if it does not stem the rise in greenhouse gases, but today's report from MPs says there is "little sign" its recommendations have been accepted.
It attacks the Treasury for failing to accelerate funding for "vital technologies" including carbon capture and storage.
And it laments the fall in green taxes as a proportion of all taxation from a peak of 9.7 per cent in 1999 to 7.3 per cent in 2006.
Committee chairman Tim Yeo says this reflects a consistent "lack of ambition and imagination" from the government.
"The Treasury is. not responding with the scale and urgency that [Sir Nicholas] Stern recommended," he commented.
"This is even more remiss, given that since the Stern Review was published the science on climate change has continued to harden, with global emissions rising faster than projected."
Today's report has attracted an angry reaction from both environmental groups and businesses alike.
Simon Bullock, Friends of the Earth's economics coordinator, called on chancellor Alistair Darling to "put climate change at the heart of next week's Budget".
Meanwhile the Confederation of British Industry's deputy director-general, John Crediland, said green taxes would be "totally undermined if the Treasury regards them as a convenient money-spinner rather than as a cost-neutral incentive for firms and consumers to change behaviour".
A Treasury spokesperson said the government was preparing a response to the report.
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