Carbon tax ‘good for businesses and environment’

Implementing a carbon tax for businesses could be a good solution to tackle climate change. Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot is calling on global leaders to set a corporate carbon levy at the […]

Implementing a carbon tax for businesses could be a good solution to tackle climate change.

Veolia CEO Antoine Frérot is calling on global leaders to set a corporate carbon levy at the COP21 conference in Paris.

He believes “a strong and predictable” carbon price is needed “to make depollution less costly”.

Veolia proposes the tax should be set at €30 (£21.9) to €40 (£29.2) per tonne of CO2 to reduce carbon emissions by 20% and prevent global warming.

Richard Kirkman, Technical Director at Veolia UK told ELN the tax is a “huge” opportunity for businesses as it is “financially driven” and is good for the environment.

 

He added: “We’ve already calculated that there is about £30 billion worth of value in the UK from the circular economy. That’s one big plank of tackling climate change so we can re-use all the materials that we are currently throwing away. By re-using those materials businesses will benefit, introducing the carbon tax will make this happen.”

Mr Kirkman believes businesses should work together and decide whether to implement a carbon price to be more sustainable.

A carbon tax, he added, could benefit the UK energy sector in terms of security of supply.

Mr Kirkman said: “We could produce more renewable energy, it’d give the UK more energy security and more security for businesses to be sustainable and grow in the future.”

Veolia has established its own internal carbon tax, which aims to price carbon at €31 (£22.6) per tonne by 2030.

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