EEB

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European Environmental Bureau
EEBs Environmental Fiscal Reform
Campaign Budapest - 2004-09-03
Stefan Scheuer, Policy Director
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Content

• Role of Environmental Fiscal Reform EFR
• EEBs EFR campaign
• Progress and bottlenecks
• The way forward
• Conclusions

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Role of EFR the scene

• Some progress but problems increasing
• Climate and Biodiversity Objectives out of reach?
• Pollution standards and market mechanism did not
  solve long-term and global environmental problems
• limited to EUs internal market rules and
  mechanism
• Low implementation and enforcement levels
• Challenging times
• competitiveness driven EU policy agenda
• Black and white scaremongering environmental
  regulation bad for competitiveness

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What is EFR? What can it do?

• Umbrella for economic/fiscal measures to move
  towards sustainable development
• Budget neutral shift of taxes from labour to
  environmental resource use
• Phase out of perverse subsidies
• Goes beyond existing economic instruments as
• pollution charges, polluter pays principle
• Tradeable pollution permits
• EFR has a huge potential
• to fill regulatory gaps and support enforcement
  of existing laws in a non-bureaucratic way,
• reconcile perceived contradicting interests, and
• reduce overall resource use to achieve
  environmental objectives

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EEBs EFR campaign

• Established in 2001 with great interest and
  support from EEBs membership
• Objectives
• Ambitious and effective EFR throughout the EU in
  order to
• Change production and consumption patterns
  towards sustainable development
• Raising awareness and improving quality of
  political debate

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EEBs demands

• Additional 10 shift in total tax revenues from
  labour to environmental use by 2010 at EU and
  national level
• Removal of ALL environmentally harmful subsidies
  by 2010
• Long term QMV on Eco-taxes
• New energy taxation proposals
• with clear references to Sustainable Development
• recommendations for tax recycling at national
  level
• a price indexation mechanism and a timetable to
  review taxes

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Campaign actions

• National actions by EEB Members raising
  awareness
• Publications, positions on EU legislation and
  website for outreach
• Advocacy at EU level for inclusion of
  environmental use costs in Energy tax, emission
  trading, diesel fuel tax and Eurovignette
  Directives
• International cooperation and discussions with
  EU, OECD and UNEP how subsidies harmful to
  environment and development can be
  removed/reformed at national level

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Positive developments and

• So far no real EFR exists
• Positive developments at national level
• German Eco-Tax reform lowered petrol and diesel
  consumption
• UK Climate Change Levy reduced CO2 emissions
• Dutch Eco-tax on energy decreased energy use
  and increased demand for renewables
• Danish car registration tax lowered
  car-ownership
• At EU level
• Gothenburg Council 2001 Getting prices right
• 2003 Emission trading 2003
• 2003 Energy taxation?
• 2000 Water Framework Directive

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bottlenecks

• Increasing opposition based on claimed
  competitiveness concerns
• And EU dilemma
• Unanimity for taxation required
• Brussels hinders national EFRs
• Internal market rules make national EFRs
  difficult, e.g. VAT differentiation or state aid
  rules
• Plus lack of political will at national level
• Competitiveness is an issue but the lesser
  important one innovation is the key!
• Nevertheless EFR at EU level easier than at
  national level
• Europe has become the worlds biggest consumer
  market!

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The way forward

• Building on high level commitments
• Increased information and transparency
• Until QMV on environmental taxation introduced
  use enhanced cooperation procedure
• Start strategic discussion about sectors not
  covered in the NAPs
• Start high-level process on environmental harmful
  subsidies under Dutch presidency
• Criteria for identification based on key EU
  environmental objectives and
• Harmonised reporting

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Conclusion

• Great potential of measures under EFR umbrella
• to foster win-win situations
• strengthen the environmental dimension of SD
• Fill legislative gaps and improve implementation
• BUT does progress depend on further EU
  integration, driven by
• completion of EU internal market?
• Or Environmental Crisis?

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So only a long-term perspective after digestion
of enlargement?

• Meanwhile
• existing hurdles for frontrunners could be
  eliminated and cooperation promoted
• Data gathering and public communication could be
  strengthened and
• Lisbon strategy needs to incorporate EFR
  considerations Dutch Presidency focus on
  Eco-Efficiency New Commission