Danish officials propose meat tax to ‘fight climate change’

The Danish Council on Climate Change is urging the government to impose a meat tax on Danes to reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

The council, an independent advisory body whose members are appointed to office by the climate and energy minister, was established by The Climate Change Act of 2014. Its chairman, Peter Mollgaard, told Reuters last month that the council has recommended the government impose a 33% tax on beef and a carbon emissions tax of 750 Danish krone ($108.86) per ton on farmers. 

Denmark, whose agriculture sector comprises about 24% of the country’s exports according to government estimates, has a rich meat market, particularly pork and beef. In 2022 alone the Danish meat market amounted to $4.40 billion and is expected to grow by 5% per year. The country currently boasts twice as many slaughter pigs than citizens, who consume twice as many animal products than the global average, according to Reuters.

But in 2014 the government set a goal to reduce 80%-95% of the country’s carbon emissions by 2050. Then in 2019, seeking to outdo itself, the Danish government passed a law requiring the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels, or around 20 million carbon tons, within 10 years.

In a desperate attempt to meet its goal, the government issued new guidelines in 2021 recommending that Danes reduce their meat intake to 350 grams per week.

Now, the government is considering a tax on meat and meat farmers, joining other countries and globalist leaders such as former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who proposed taxing farmers for the “greenhouse gas emissions” resulting from their livestock’s burps and urine. Under the proposal, farmers who meet a certain herd or fertilizer threshold will be forced to pay the government a tax set every one to three years. 

Denmark’s neighboring Netherlands sparked fierce protests by farmers last year as its climate regulations are expected to destroy 30% of the country’s farms by placing caps on ammonia and nitrogen oxide, which are found in livestock urine and feces. Compliance with the government's "nitrogen crisis" would mean many farmers losing their livelihoods, including those who produce mostly organic meat. The government is also on its way to buying out and shutting down 3,000 farms.

Mainstream media recently began making a greater push for a meat tax, which they insist most people would favor. 

Some, however, are concerned that the tax will affect only the working class while allowing those who can afford the tax to consume meat without restriction.

Furthermore, as pointed out by author Chadwick Hagan, even environmental messianists are forced to admit that the world's major polluters are Asian and South American countries, not countries in Europe. 

“I am not against lower emissions, or animal welfare, or even the growing popularity of vegetarianism, but I am against irrational thought processes from totalitarian technocrats,” says Hagan.

In addition to taxing meat, other proposals by globalists and mainstream media include rationing meat as in World War II and placing meat-shaming labels on meat products in stores.