Boris Johnson rules out meat and carbon taxes ahead of COP26 climate pledges
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has categorically ruled out introducing new levies on meat or carbon despite his net zero targets, according to an interview he gave The Sun.
In light of the government’s target of carbon neutrality by 2050 there were suggestion the UK government may introduce taxes on meat or carbon in the future to incentivise greener alternatives.
However, Johnson tonight ruled out carbon taxes for consumers, which currently only apply for major companies, and instead told The Sun that the government will “generate high quality, high skill, high wage jobs.”
Last month Johnson also distanced himself from a Whitehall plan to institute a tax on meat, designed by Treasury officials looking at ways to tax commodities that require carbon intensive production.
There’s pressure on the Prime Minister to intensify efforts to mitigate climate change due to the UK hosting the COP26 conference in November.
The event will see the world’s leaders descend on Glasgow for the latest round of the United Nations’ ongoing climate change negotiations.
The prime minister added that he believed that the UK’s carbon neutral future would be spurred on by innovation in green technology.
During a visit to a primary school in Stoke-on-Trent last week he told The Sun that the UK “can be the centre of battery innovation in this part of the world.”