12 Dec 2016

Expert commission regards agriculture inept for ETS, recommends fossil fuel taxation

Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture

The agricultural sector is not suitable for full inclusion in the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS), experts commissioned by the German Ministry for Food and Agriculture said during a presentation of a ministry report on climate protection in Berlin. Due to the sector's structure comprising many small-scale producers, the time and effort needed for a "reliable" and "sufficiently detailed" emission measurement as required by the ETS would be "unjustifiable" and could weaken the EU's agricultural competitiveness, the report said. The experts instead recommend establishing a Europe-wide harmonised taxation of fossil fuels commensurate with greenhouse gas emissions that "should also include international transportation" of agricultural goods.

Read more on Germany's sectoral targets for emissions reduction in the CLEW factsheet Germany's Climate Action Plan 2050.

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