Don’t serve up meat tax without warning the public, insist MSPS

MINISTERS have been told to draw up a blueprint to keep the public informed about “potentially contentious issues” such as cutting meat and dairy consumption which are required to meet strict carbon emission targets.

The Scottish Government has been told to be upfront with the public about what changes to diets will be required, while taxing high carbon foods such as meat has also been raised as a potential “radical” solution if carbon emissions are to be cut by 75 per cent of 1990 levels in just 11 years’ time.

Statutory adviser, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has recommended red meat and dairy consumption is cut by at least 20% and potentially as much as 40%.

But the Scottish Government has been told to work out how to square that need with a pledge to double the value of the country’s food and drink sector to £30 billion by 2030.

MSPS on Holyrood’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform

Committee have told the Scottish Government it must set out “how it intends to tackle potentially contentious issues such as changing diet... to ensure that there is a degree of consensus building, including the levers that are required to make this happen”.

The committee has also called on SNP ministers to investigate “the implications of dietary change and include measures to address the challenges of dietary change” in their climate change strategy.

It also called on the Government to “review any research and evidence linked to the CCC recommendation to reduce meat and dairy consumption by 20% in order to understand the potential implications of this proposal in a Scottish context”.

Pete Smith, professor of soils and global change at Aberdeen University, has starkly warned that “dietary change in Scotland is required if we are to meet our net zero (target) by 2045, stressing that “the issue does need addressing”.

Professor Smith said that to “gradually change” menus in public canteens could alter behaviours. He added: “The reason it is so contentious is because people don’t want to be told what to eat by a nanny state, and with use of foodbanks on the rise, no politician wants to risk making the situation worse, especially for the poorest in our society.

“Other, more radical options include a carbon tax on food, which will make meat, especially beef and lamb, more expensive. To prevent punishing the poorest in society, the money raised would need to be used to subsidise fruit and veg, which we do not eat enough of. All of these options present issues of social justice and equity – so any government will have to tread a very thin line.”

NFU Scotland has stressed that Scottish farmers and crofters “are committed to taking steps to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis”, but at the same time pressing forward with an ambition of the country’s food and drink sector doubling in value by 2030.

Climate change policy manager for NFU Scotland, Ruth Taylor, added: “To achieve all that, we need to see leadership from Scottish Government in setting out future agricultural policy with urgency and delivering clarity on what is required from the sector.

“We also need to see a just transition for agriculture given that the sector underpins a vibrant rural economy and supports almost 70,000 jobs across Scotland. On dietary change, the focus must be on buying local first and foremost, otherwise we run the risk of simply offshoring our consumptionbased emissions.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We believe that, with changes in farming practices, our climate and landscape means we are well placed to produce high-quality meat more sustainably and in a way which will help cut emissions and contribute more to nature.

“Were Scotland to cease to produce high-quality food, and in particular meat, then that production would simply take place elsewhere, where it is often more carbon intensive, effectively resulting in at best, no change to global emissions and with the potential that our carbon footprint would be higher.”

More radical options include a carbon tax on food, which will make meat, especially beef and lamb, more expensive