Ecological Steering with Value-Added Tax and Taxes on Consumption

The current design of some taxes sets a number of ecological disincentives - for example, it encourages the consumption of environmentally harmful products and provides little incentive for more sustainable behaviour. A research project of FÖS with the Öko-Institut and the Environmental Policy Research Centre (Forschungszentrumfür Umweltpolitik) of the FU Berlin shows a large number of construction sites for a greening of the tax system and analyses their effects. The policy paper provides an initial overview of the results of a research project for the Federal Environment Agency. The research examined, for example, the reform of VAT on animal products, a coffee tax exemption for sustainable and fair coffee, the introduction of a cement and air freight tax or a deposit on lithium-ion batteries to promote a circular economy.