Denmark slaps farmers with climate taxes in world first
Danish livestock farmers will be taxed for their animals’ flatulence, according to a plan unveiled by Denmark’s government last week.
The plan
Beginning in 2030, farmers will be required to pay 300 kroner ($43) for each tonne of carbon emitted by their livestock. By 2035, the tax will increase to 750 kroner ($101).
The government said the climate taxes will be accompanied by tax breaks which will ultimately reduce the cost to 120 kroner ($17.30) in 2030 and 300 kroner by 2035.
Denmark’s Parliament is expected to approve the proposed law later this year. Lawmakers assigned the agriculture sector a mandatory target of a 55% to 65% emissions cut in 2021, laying the groundwork for these climate taxes.
While other countries such as Canada have imposed carbon taxes on fuel, Denmark is the first country in the world to tax farmers. It is not, however, the first country to target farmers over climate change.
Netherlands also targets farmers
Denmark’s neighboring Netherlands, which aims to halve its nitrogen-based emissions by 2030, received approval last year from the EU Commission to buy out 3,000 farms.
Expected to cost €1.47 billion ($1.62 billion), the project will pay certain breeding farmers 100%–120% of their losses if they voluntarily close their farms. The farmer must also agree to never breed animals in the Netherlands or the EU again.
Breeding sites being targeted for closure are all small- or medium-sized farms, according to a statement from the EU Commission.
Dutch Nature Minister Christianne van der Wal warned that the government will force closures if farmers do not opt into the buyout program.
“The government is fully committed to this voluntary approach and hopes that many of the businesses that qualify will participate. . . . [T]he government wants to prevent mandatory measures,” said van der Wal.
Veal farmer Wim Brouwer said the government’s program is not the incentive it claims.
“This morning I did the calculation for ‘120% of my farm’s value’, what the nature minister called a wildly attractive ruling,” Brouwer said. “There’s nothing wildly attractive for me. You couldn’t even rebuild the farm for this amount. But when a business fills out the form and finds out it is a peak polluter, it’s a death sentence.”
Nevertheless, as of November, over 750 Dutch farmers signed up for the buyout scheme.
