Make polluters pay: How to tax excessive ecological footprints
Progressive environmental taxation is pivotal to making progress on the ecological transition, as well as on social and economic justice. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Excessive Ecological Footprint Taxation to combat the exploitation of global environmental public goods and catalyse the social-ecological transformation of our economies.
The destruction of nature because of air, water and soil pollution, the loss of biodiversity and climate change is putting people’s health and wellbeing at risk. Additionally, increasing inequality within and between countries worldwide is further affecting development opportunities for both current and future generations.
Progressive environmental taxation can help to tackle these challenges by making the polluters pay. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Excessive Ecological Footprint Taxation to catalyse the social-ecological transformation of our economies, by pricing and disincentivising environmentally harmful production and consumption.
A tax system designed to reduce inequalities and to operationalise the ‘polluter pays principle’ can serve to internalise the external costs of nature destruction, promoting behavioural change, contributing to achieving environmental and social objectives, and catalysing the transition to socially just and environmentally sound economies.