A tax on meat? Is it politically feasible?
Short description
The consumption of animal products (meat and dairy) is not considered compatible with environmental objectives. People’s choice of diet is strongly linked to culture and identity and we can therefore not expect meat consumption to decrease through voluntary efforts, which increases the demand for political solution. However, we know that state intervention in the for of, for example, CO2 taxes, faces strong resistance in many contexts. In this project, we focus on environmental policy instruments in the food sector, which today is an almost unexplored field. More specifically we study how countries’ food culture and level of corruption affect the acceptance of environmental policy instruments in the food sector. The overall goal of the project is to investigate and understand the interaction between context and individual factors for acceptance.
Researchers
- Niklas Harring, Associate Professor, Department of Political 91̽»¨, University 91̽»¨.
- Sverker C. Jagers, Professor, Department of Political 91̽»¨, University 91̽»¨.
- Simon Matti, Professor, Department of Social 91̽»¨s, Technology and Arts, LuleÃ¥ University of Technology,
- Thomas Sterner, Professor, Department of Economics, University 91̽»¨.
Reports
Röös, E., Larsson, J., Resare Sahlin, K., Jonell, M., Lindahl, T., André, E., Säll, S., Harring, N., & M. Persson (2021). . Mistra Sustainable Consumption report 1:10, Chalmers University of Technology.
Röös, E., Larsson, J., Resare Sahlin, K., Jonell, M., Lindahl, T., André, E., Säll, S., Harring, N., & M. Persson (2020). . SLU Future Food Reports 13.
Debate articles
. Göteborgs-Posten, 19 augusti 2022.
. Dagens Nyheter, 16 juni 2020.
. Dagens Nyheter, 26 juni 2020.
Media participation
. Sveriges Television: Klimathoppet, 18 april 2023.
. Sveriges Radio: Studio Ett, 9 mars 2023.
. Sveriges Radio: Godmorgon världen, 11 december 2022.
Book chapter
Harring, N. (2020). Vad anser svenskarna om en klimatskatt på nötkött?. I Ulrika Andersson, Anders Carlander & Patrik Öhberg (ed.) Regntunga skyar. Göteborgs universitet: SOM-institutet.
Conference presentations
How Ideology Affects Individual Attitudes to a Climate-Motivated Tax on Meat. Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti, Midwest Political 91̽»¨ Association Conference, 13-16 April 2023, Chicago.
Factors affecting public acceptance of a climate change-motivated tax on meat. Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti, ACT Sustainable Research Conference 16-18 November 2022, University 91̽»¨/Chalmers University of Technology.
How Ideology Affects Individual Attitudes to a Climate-Motivated Tax on Meat. Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti pÃ¥ Annual conference of the Swedish Political 91̽»¨ Association, Örebro University 28-30 September 2022.
Acceptability for food consumption policies: The public debate in online social forums. Anna Bendz, Niklas Harring, Felix Bäckstedt pÃ¥ 15th Nordic Environmental Social 91̽»¨ Conference, Gothenburg, 7-9 June 2022.
Is a climate tax on meat politically feasible? Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti, the 14th European Consortium for Political Research, 2020, Panel ‘Green’ public = ‘green’ policies or vice versa?.
Is a climate tax on meat politically feasible? Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti, Building sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition patterns, Act Sustainable Research Conference on November 18-19, 2020.
Workshops
Mistra Sustainable Consumption/ CeCAR Workshop. February 7-9, 2023, Nääs, with participants, Oxford University, Aarhus University, University 91̽»¨, Chalmers University of Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural 91̽»¨s, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Beijer Institute, Göteborgs kommun, European Institute on Economics and the Environment.
Workshop on policy for sustainable food consumption. March 10, 2020, Gothenburg with researchers and policy experts from University 91̽»¨, Chalmers University of Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural 91̽»¨s, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Beijer Institute, Göteborgs kommun, Royal Institute of Technology, Karolinska institutet, LuleÃ¥ University of Technology, IVL – Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Public Health Agency of Sweden, Lund University, and Swedish Food Agency.