IEEP is pleased to invite you to a high-level European Commission event with Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and a distinguished panel to discuss how green taxation can help build fairer, more resilient economies.
4 February
9:30-11:30 CET
The event, organised by the European Commission Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV), is based on emerging findings from a study funded by the European Parliament and being undertaken for the European Commission by a consortium led by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). It will take place online between 9.30 and 11.30 CET on 4 February 2021.
The event is aimed at decision-makers in Member States’ Environment, Finance and Economics Ministries, as well as stakeholders in the private sector, the civil society and others.
About the event
During the event, the European Commission will share new evidence, which further strengthens the case for moving the focus of taxation away from incomes and towards environmental degradation, such as air and water pollution or waste.
The study’s results show that doing so will be good for growth and can be done in an inclusive way. New analysis demonstrates that polluters do not pay for the costs of their pollution, it is to some extent ‘free’ to pollute. There are though many good examples of green taxation across the Member States that can be copied to green the recovery, cut labour taxes and deliver a better environment at a lower cost, and in a fairer way.
Following the Commissioner’s keynote remarks, Allan Buckwell of IEEP will present the headline results from the study. These include examples of good practice in the design of green taxes and other pricing instruments by the Member States that have already worked in practice. This conference will inform the development of a toolkit for civil society to engage in greening taxation reforms by introducing new market-based instruments, and also by technical workshops.
Agenda
| 9.30 | Introduction and meeting etiquette: |
| Céline Charveriat, Executive Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) | |
| 9.40 | Keynote remarks: |
| Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries | |
| 9.55 | Getting the prices right – emerging results: |
| Allan Buckwell, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) | |
| 10.10 | Panel discussion including questions from participants: |
| Paul Tang MEP, Chair, Taxation Committee, European Parliament Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve, co-chair, Club of Rome Aldo Ravazzi Douvan, President, Green Budget Europe | |
| 11.20 | Concluding comments and next steps: |
| Gerassimos Thomas, Director-General, DG Taxation and Customs Union |
Livestream
The recording of the event is available on IEEP’s YouTube channel.
| https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0XQxa1wJis |
