Farmers in Denmark will be the first in the world to be taxed on their cows, sheep and pigs’ methane and carbon emissions. This comes as a law is due to be approved by lawmakers later on this year after being agreed by the government to implement the agriculture tax.
The proposed law will take effect from 2030, and will charge farmers 300 Danish Kroner (£34) per tonne of CO2 their cattle produce. This is also planned to increase in 2035 to 750 Danish Kroner (£85) per tonne of CO2. These taxes will, however, be reduced to 120 Danish Kroner (£13) in 2030 after the government agreed to a 60% income tax deduction to ‘support the green transition of the industry’ between 2030 and 2031.
Agriculture being Denmark’s largest source of emissions is one of the main action points for its new agreement. The plans also include investing roughly 40 billion Danish Kroner (£4.5b).
The news concerning the planned laws have been met by angry farmers after arriving just months after European protests held by farmers whereby agriculture owners threw eggs at the European Parliament buildings, and blocked roads with their tractors. Farmers have expressed their anger about the strict planned rules.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation recorded livestock farming as the cause of 12% of global emissions in 2015. Methane is one of the top sources of greenhouse gas emission in Denmark, and is emitted by cows, sheep and pigs when they release excess air, and in their faeces. The methane produced and released into the air is aimed to be reduced, with the help of this law, by 70% in 2030.
While Denmark will be the first country to effectively put this law into place, should everything go to plan towards the end of the year, New Zealand proposed to pass a similar law to begin in 2025. However, this was quickly backtracked after the proposals caused significant anger and frustrations with farmers. The country’s leaders said they would instead focus on other ways to reduce methane in the atmosphere.
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