The price of being green
Updated on 26 October 2009
How much would you be willing to pay to be greener? The Green Fiscal Commission reports on proposed taxes to combat climate change. Faisal Islam reports.
A £3,000 levy on the cost of a new car and a tripling of fuel duty - two of the options for environmentally-friendly taxes considered by The Green Fiscal Commission.
The commission, which has spent two years studying the issue, said today that green taxes could be the key to meeting targets on greenhouse gas emissions.
But the effects would be neutral, with money raised used to reduce taxes like national insurance.
The environmental think tank, which was set up to advise the government, has called for the tripling of fuel duty, a tax on new vehicles and the introduction of a household energy tax over the next decade. It says these green taxes should to be introduced in a bid to tackle climate change and that the government's current efforts to tackle this issue would not meet its intended targets for 2020.
But the think tank says its new proposals are designed to reward environmentally-conscious consumers.
Jon Snow was joined by the executive director of Greenpeace UK, John Sauven.
Jon Snow was joined by Treasury Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry.
