Evolutionary game analysis of multi-stakeholders in the WEEE recycling industry under propaganda subsidies and environmental damage taxes

With an increase in the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the waste of resources and environmental hazards caused by WEEE cannot be ignored. Meanwhile, the lack of environmental awareness among consumers and the existence of informal recyclers pose a great challenge to the government in governing the WEEE recycling industry. This study constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model consisting of the government and formal and informal recyclers. Then, the payoff matrix, replicator dynamic equations and all the equilibrium points are obtained, and a stability analysis of the equilibrium points is performed to derive the evolutionary stability strategies (ESSs) and their formation conditions. Finally, the influence of important parameters on the WEEE recycling industry is examined through numerical analysis. The results suggest that the government cannot ignore the existence of informal recyclers but should take governance measures to intervene in informal recycling and guide such recyclers to upgrade their processing technology. Moreover, the willingness of informal recyclers to invest in processing technology increases with the increase in environmental damage taxes. Second, the government should provide formal recyclers with appropriate promotional subsidies. Third, the government should control its own cost of governance and reduce its financial burden. Fourth, with government subsidies, formal recyclers should decide whether to make promotional investments based on the investment cost and the sum of the benefits from the investment and government subsidy. Finally, under government tax pressure and the influence of formal recyclers' promotional investments, informal recyclers should actively invest in processing technology.

(No) time to be healthy: Optimal policy with time and monetary investments in health

Time is often an important ingredient of a healthy lifestyle. Starting from this observation, this paper studies optimal public policy concerned with promoting healthy choices taking into account both monetary and time investments in health. Individuals tend to underestimate the importance of their health while making decisions, which makes their investments too low compared to the first-best. While the decentralization of the first-best requires personalized subsidies on both time and monetary investments, this may be problematic due to informational issues. In a second-best world where individual productivities and time investments are publicly unobservable, whereas monetary investments are observable in an anonymous way, the paper considers a policy with a non-linear income tax and a linear subsidy on monetary health investments. If there are no incentive concerns, all other things equal, monetary investments complementary (substitutable) to time investments should be subsidized more (less) than those independent of time use. The addition of incentive concerns demonstrates that optimal subsidization of monetary health investments is less straightforward than one might think. Overall, the time ingredient in the production of health does play a role in the optimal policy design, affecting not only the subsidy on monetary health investments but also the income taxation.

Public-Private Partnerships in Mexico: Implications of Engaging With the Food and Beverage Industry for Public Health Nutrition

BACKGROUND

In the last few years, Mexico adopted public health policies to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as front of package nutrition labelling, food marketing restrictions to children, and a soda tax. In parallel, transnational food and beverage industries (F&BIs), their allies, and the government have agreed on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to implement policies or deliver programs. However, research has questioned the benefits of PPPs and exposed its limitations as a suitable mechanism to improve public health. This study analyses how four PPPs between the Mexican government, the F&BI, and allies are working to achieve their goals. We critically assessed the objectives, scope, reported impacts, governance principles and perceived risks and benefits for the public health agenda of these PPPs.

METHODS

This qualitative study is based on 26 interviews with key actors, and 170 publicly available documents, including 22 obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests related to four purposively selected PPPs aiming to improve health.

RESULTS

We found that the four PPPs studied had minimal public information available on their implementation and impact. The private partners tend to dictate the design, information management, and implementation of the programs, while promoting their brands. Few independent evaluations of the PPPs exist, and none reported on their effectiveness or public health benefits. Good governance principles, such as accountability, transparency, fairness, participation, integrity, and credibility, were barely followed in each of the cases studied. Public officials did not automatically question the conflict of interest (CoI) of such arrangements. When there were COI, the potential risks these posed did not always outweigh the financial benefits of working with the F&BI and its allies.

CONCLUSION

The four PPPs studied produced minimal gains for public health while boosting credibility for the participating transnational F&BIs. It shows the lack of awareness of how these PPPs might be hindering public health gains.

How an agreement with restriction of unhealthy food marketing and sodium taxation influenced high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) food consumption

BACKGROUND

Food taxation and food marketing policy are very cost-effectiveness to improve healthy diets among children. The objective of this study was to investigate the socio-demographic characteristics of Thais and attitude towards on policy unhealthy food marketing restriction and sodium taxation which influence high fat, sodium, and sugar (FHSS) food eating.

METHODS

The data were obtained from the 2021 Health Behavior of Population Survey, four-stage sampling method of the Thai people, aged 15 years and above, using a offline survey application-assisted face-to-face interview. Logistic Regression were used to analyze the explanatory variables on agreement and HFSS food intake.

RESULTS

Almost half (48.4%) of samples disagreed with sodium taxation, and 42.7% of the samples disagreed with food marketing restriction. Most (99.6%) of Thai respondents consumed HFSS food, including sugar sweetened beverages (SSB). Gender, age, education, income, BMI, and health status were associated with agreement with food marketing restriction policy and sodium taxation policy. There is no association between agreement with policy on sodium taxation and food marketing and HFSS food consumption.

CONCLUSION

Nearly half of Thais indicated that they disagreed with policy on food marketing restriction and sodium taxation. Therefore, understanding and awareness of the two policies among Thais should be further investigated in order to develop better policy communication for increased public understanding and engagement.

Going 'Super Value' in New Zealand: cigarette pricing strategies during a period of sustained annual excise tax increases

BACKGROUND

Between 2010 and 2020, the New Zealand (NZ) Government increased tobacco excise tax by inflation plus 10% each year. We reviewed market structure changes and examined whether NZ tobacco companies shifted excise tax increases to maintain the affordability of lower priced cigarette brands.

METHODS

We cluster-analysed market data that tobacco companies supply to the NZ Ministry of Health, created four price partitions and examined the size and share of these over time. For each partition, we analysed cigarette brand numbers and market share, calculated the volume-weighted real stick price for each year and compared this price across different price partitions. We calculated the net real retail price (price before tax) for each price partition and compared these prices before and after plain packaging took effect.

RESULTS

The number and market share of Super Value and Budget brands increased, while those of Everyday and Premium brands decreased. Differences between the price of Premium and Super Value brands increased, as did the net retail price difference for these partitions. Following plain packaging's implementation, Super Value brand numbers more than doubled; contrary to industry predictions, the price difference between these and higher priced brands did not narrow.

CONCLUSIONS

Between 2010 and 2020, NZ tobacco companies introduced more Super Value cigarette brands and shifted excise tax increases to reduce the impact these had on low-priced brands. Setting a minimum retail price for cigarettes could curtail tobacco companies' ability to undermine tobacco taxation policies designed to reduce smoking.

Cigarette excise tax structure and cigarette prices in nine sub-Saharan African countries: evidence from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey

BACKGROUND

Economic theory predicts that the excise tax structure influences the distribution of cigarette prices. Evidence shows that uniform specific excise tax structures exhibit the least price variability relative to other tax structures. The distribution of cigarette prices under different excise tax structures has never been examined for a group of African countries.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the distribution of cigarette prices under different tax structures in nine African countries and to critically evaluate the effectiveness of African regional tax directives in promoting public health.

METHODS

Data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, conducted in eight African countries during 2012-2018, and data from the 2017 Gambia Tobacco Survey were used to construct survey-derived cigarette prices. The coefficients of variation and skewness of the price distribution were compared in the context of each country's cigarette excise tax structure.

RESULTS

The least price variability is found in countries with a uniform specific tax, or a mixed system with a minimum specific floor. Cigarette price variability is largest in countries with uniform ad valorem tax structures. Three of the four countries with ad valorem tax structures are in regional blocs, where the tax directives specify that they should implement an ad valorem structure.

CONCLUSIONS

Regional tax directives that require the adoption of uniform specific excise taxes, or high minimum specific floors, could be an efficient way to get multiple African countries to adopt a tax structure that reduces substitution possibilities in response to excise tax increases.

How much to pay for a track and trace system: a simulation model for South Africa

BACKGROUND

The illicit trade in tobacco reduces the effectiveness of tobacco-control policies. Independent track and trace (T&T) systems are considered one of the most effective measures available to reduce the illicit tobacco trade. South Africa, with an illicit trade estimated at over 35% of the total market, is yet to implement a T&T system.

METHODS

An Excel-based simulation model is used to determine the break-even T&T marker cost per pack. At the break-even cost per pack, the government would recover all costs associated with implementing T&T by collecting additional revenues. We conduct a scenario analysis to provide a range of break-even marker costs.

FINDINGS

A marker cost of between R2.68 (US$0.17) and R5.24 (US$0.34) per pack allows the South African government to collect enough additional revenue to recover all costs associated with T&T. Implementing such a system would reduce cigarette consumption by between 5% and 11.5%. Given that comparable systems cost significantly less than this range (roughly US$0.02 per pack), the government would in all likelihood be able to implement a system at a cost below the break-even rate, thus generating additional revenue.

CONCLUSION

The break-even simulation model provides a practical tool for the government to plan the implementation of T&T and to set up an evaluation criteria for the T&T tender process. The simulations illustrate that implementing T&T in South Africa would both reduce consumption (licit and illicit) and generate additional revenue. With some modifications, the model can be applied to other countries as well.

Giving fruits and vegetables a tax break: lessons from a Dutch attempt

OBJECTIVE

Food taxation can improve diets by making unhealthy foods more expensive and by making healthy foods cheaper. In the Netherlands, a political window of opportunity arose in December 2021 to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on fruits and vegetables to zero percent. The policy is now facing institutional friction along several fronts, however, delaying and potentially averting its implementation. We analysed this institutional friction to inform future food tax policies.

DESIGN

We qualitatively analysed open-access fiscal and health experts' position papers about benefits and downsides of the zero-rate that were discussed with members of parliament in June 2023.

SETTING

The Netherlands.

PARTICIPANTS

Not applicable.

RESULTS

Health and fiscal experts expressed noticeably different viewpoints towards the utility of the zero-rate. One important argument fiscal experts based their negative advice upon pertained to the legal restrictions for distinguishing between healthier and unhealthier forms of fruits and vegetables (i.e. the principle of neutrality). A zero-rate VAT on unhealthier forms of fruits and vegetables, e.g. processed cucumber, mixed with salt and sugar, would be undesirable, but differentiating between raw and processed cucumber would offend the neutrality principle.

CONCLUSIONS

The Dutch attempt to give fruits and vegetables a tax break highlights the need for crystal-clear food classifications when designing food tax policies. Public health nutritionists should combine classifications based on caloric density, palatability, degree of processing and nutrient content to provide a database for evidence-informed tax differentiation according to food item healthfulness.

Contribution of the carbon tax, phase-out of thermoelectric power plants, and renewable energy subsidies for the decarbonization of Chile - A CGE model and microsimulations approach

There are various climate policies to decarbonize the energy matrix of a country. In the case of Chile, a carbon tax of 5 USD/tCO2 was initially implemented, and later, a schedule was established for the phase-out of coal-fired thermoelectric plants, all the above in the absence of subsidies for non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE). This study uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and microsimulations to assess the contribution of current climate policies and other more demanding scenarios that accelerate the decarbonization of the Chilean energy matrix, considering economic, environmental, and distributional impacts. Specifically, carbon taxes are simulated with and without complementary climate policies (phase-out of coal-fired power plants and NCRE subsidies). The results show that the scenarios that combine the three climate policies generate a greater decrease in greenhouse gas emissions (40.4% ∼ 57.5%). Besides, the drop in GDP is more pronounced when coal-fired thermoelectric plants phase out (0.3% additional), and NCRE subsidies contribute to moderately reducing emissions. However, NCRE subsidies reduce the negative effect on households' expenditure and income, especially in the poorest quintile. Finally, microsimulations show marginal changes in income distribution and an increase of up to 0.4 percentage points in the poverty rate.

Overcoming public resistance to carbon taxes: A cost-efficient solution built on a pre-existing reward-based climate policy

A carbon tax is effective at curbing carbon emissions, but it is met with low public support due to its high personal cost. Investigations have been conducted to reform carbon tax design to ease the burden on individuals by providing economic compensation, but the cost for governments is high. We propose a new cost-efficient solution by introducing people to a pre-existing reward-based climate policy to create a sense of economic compensation. Across three experiments, we show that the presence of a pre-existing reward-based climate policy increases participants' support for a carbon tax, especially when the innate connection between the two policies is made salient and people regard the reward as compensation for the tax. In contrast, if people are distracted from sensing this interrelationship, support for the tax does not differ from when it is introduced alone. Applicability of this approach was tested under different conditions where the pressure to reduce carbon emission is either high or low.

Threatening Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemption: A Better Path Forward

This Viewpoint discusses regulation of nonprofit hospitals in a way that will advance their charitable purposes without eliminating their tax exemption status.

Can environmental protection tax force enterprises to improve green technology innovation?

The introduction of an environmental protection tax enables a smooth shift from the sewerage charge system to the environmental protection tax scheme. This, in turn, promotes a more sustainable development of enterprise growth, emphasizing eco-friendliness. This is of immense importance in advancing environmentally aware practices and sustainability. Based on data collected from A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2014 to 2021, this paper investigates the influence of environmental protection taxes on the advancement of green technology and the underlying mechanisms. Taking the execution of the Environmental Protection Tax Law in 2018 as a quasi-natural experiment, a double-difference model is employed to examine the causal relationship between environmental protection taxes and the adoption of green technology by companies. The findings indicate that the introduction of an environmental tax could markedly enhance the extent of green technological innovation within corporations. The evidence arising from the testing mechanism implies that such a tax can encourage firms to boost their investments in research and development, upgrade their innovative human capital, and mitigate financing limitations. The study found that there is heterogeneity in the promotion effect of the environmental protection tax on the green technological innovation of businesses in different regions and provinces with varying tax burdens and types of equity capital. Further research shows that the environmental protection tax has a greater impact on the promotion of utility model patent applications for green technology innovation. This paper presents empirical evidence to support further enhancement of the environmental protection tax system. It recommends designing the environmental protection tax policy with consideration for enterprises and local conditions and bolstering the system's capacity for guiding and stimulating enterprises' green development.

Size of government and willingness-to-pay for environmental policy: Evidence from a cross-country survey

Citizen support is an important precursor to climate change mitigation polices. Public opinion can shape public policy and vice versa. This paper uses the 2010 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Environment Module to investigate cross-national differences in support for climate policy. We introduce size of government, measured by government revenues as a share of GDP, as a new country-level factor. Our sample includes 31,511 responses from 33 countries. We use multilevel models to estimate the relationship between country-level factors and environmental policy support, conditional on a series of individual factors. Increasing the size of government by one standard deviation reduces support for environmental policy by 0.13 points on a 5-point scale. For comparison, a one standard deviation increase in GDP per capita leads to a 0.24 increase in support and a one standard deviation increase in air pollution leads to a 0.13 point increase. The implication for environmental policy is that high tax countries have an aversion to price and tax increases aimed at protecting the environment. We conclude that use of taxes for environmental policy must include clear expectations for how revenues will be recycled or how other taxes will be lowered if they are to gain widespread support.

Effect of message framing on support for a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Australia: a cross-sectional survey analysis

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are present in many countries with evidence that they are effective in decreasing purchases of SSBs. However, in Australia where SSB consumption per capita is high, and calls for an SSB tax are frequent, there is no SSB tax and policymakers have stated their lack of support for such a tax. We examined whether political party voting preference and sociodemographic factors affect individuals' support for an SSB tax, and whether message framing affects this support. A nationally representative sample of 1519 Australian adults was recruited for an online experimental survey. Three persuasive frames and one control frame were randomly provided to participants and measures of agreement towards an SSB tax were assessed. Sociodemographic factors and political party preference were also captured. Message framing had minimal effect on the level of support for the tax. However, participants who received the 'supportive of food and drink companies frame' showed the highest positive feelings towards the tax, and participants in rural areas had higher levels of support for an SSB tax when receiving the 'protecting teenagers' frame. Participants who voted for conservative (right-leaning) parties and for Labour (a centre-left party) had similar levels of support towards the tax, which was considerably lower than Greens voters. Undecided voters had the lowest levels of support for the tax, and the frames had limited impact on them. These findings highlight the potential role of message framing in shaping public support for an SSB tax in Australia, particularly in the context of voting preference and sociodemographic factors.

Commentary: The Conflict Between Protecting Public Health and Raising Tax Revenue

When Canada created a legal market for cannabis, it gave priority to public health by restricting marketing using branding and promotion via social and other media sources. These restrictions to protect the public from harmful use are under increasing pressure from the legal cannabis industry, which claims that they prevent them from outcompeting and replacing the illicit market. Public health advocates are reasonably concerned that these restrictions will not hold given our experience with alcohol, tobacco and gambling where governments' fiscal dependence on tax revenue favours the liberalization of regulation.

Off-premises demand elasticities for pure alcohol in five Latin American countries: The case of Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Uruguay

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

There is ample evidence from high-income countries that fiscal policies such as alcohol taxes can affect the consumption of alcohol by increasing alcohol prices. In the case of Latin American countries, much less is known about how sensitive alcohol demand is to alcohol price changes. This study aims to expand the evidence base on the sensitivity of off-premises pure alcohol demand to price and expenditure increases in five Latin American countries: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Uruguay, which have different socioeconomic profiles and alcohol consumption patterns.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Cross-sectional study MEASUREMENTS: The price and expenditure elasticities were estimated using an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). Own price and expenditure elasticities for off-premises pure alcohol were estimated using representative household surveys, which collect data on households' expenses to construct the consumer basket of goods and services used to calculate the consumer price index (CPI) for the country.

FINDINGS

Own price elasticities of off-premises pure alcohol for all countries were negative, inelastic, and significant at 1 %. They were -0.418 for Argentina; -0.656 for Chile; and for Costa Rica, Honduras, and Uruguay, they were equal to -0.608, -0.509, and -0.32, respectively. Expenditure elasticities were positive and significant at 1 %, except for Costa Rica, which was significant at 10 %. They were equal to 0.865 in Argentina; 0.943 in Chile; 1.182 in Costa Rica; 0.874 in Honduras; and 0.857 in Uruguay. Elasticities for Costa Rica should be interpreted cautiously, as there is insufficient geographical price variability to identify the demand correctly.

CONCLUSIONS

Results were consistent with previous literature for countries from other regions. Governments should expand this study to measure total demand elasticities to improve the design of alcohol tax policies.

Quantifying digital economy and green initiatives for carbon neutrality targets: a Kilian bias-adjusted bootstrap model evaluation of China economy

Digitalization has emerged as a new hope for low-carbon sustainable economic growth after its successful trial during the COVID-19 measures. Therefore, both developed and developing economies focus on digitalization to cope with carbon neutrality targets. Thus, this study attempted to generate a meaningful relationship between the digital economy and green energy, innovation, and environmental tax policy to capture the role of factors in acquiring carbon neutrality. For the abovementioned objectives, modern econometric methods, such as the Kilian bias-adjusted bootstrap, were adopted to evaluate the Chinese dataset between 1990 and 2021. The results indicate that the study factors play a significant role in acquiring carbon neutrality in the long-term Chinese economy. Furthermore, quantile autoregressive distributed lag model (QARDL) indicates that all the factors influence carbon neutrality in various quantiles. Consequently, the digital economy, green energy and innovation, and environmental taxes significantly assist in attaining carbon neutrality in the long term, and the ecological Kuznets curve prevails in the economy. Therefore, radical and wide-ranging policy implications are required in many areas including environmental restrictions, digital economy promotion, green and sustainable technologies, and clean energy sources.

Effect of green taxation on renewable energy technologies: an analysis of commonwealth and non-commonwealth countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

African nations encounter difficulties enforcing regulations and providing incentives for using renewable energy sources. However, several nations are making efforts to encourage renewable energy through financial and tax advantages. Therefore, a shift to renewable energy is essential for African nations to experience sustainable growth and lessen environmental deterioration. Similarly, the extant literature examining green taxes' influence on renewable energy technology has documented equivocal findings. Hence, there is a need for a more thorough investigation. This study, therefore, explores the influence of green taxation on renewable energy technologies of emerging countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. We employed data from a sample of 28 countries of 54 African countries spanning 21 years from 2001 to 2021, providing a panel of 588 country-year observations. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank Dataset provided all the study's data. A heterogeneous dynamic panel data modelling using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) has been adopted. The study found that green taxes might be used to mitigate the adverse effects of non-renewable energy activities on the environment in Africa. Considering the findings of the components of green taxes, it was recognised that an increase in energy-related tariffs would lead to a growth in Africa's use of renewable energy. It was further established that an increase in transport taxes increases the adoption of renewable energy technologies in Africa. A comparative analysis between the commonwealth and non-commonwealth countries showed that green taxes of commonwealth countries in Africa significantly contribute to the growth of renewable energy technologies compared to non-commonwealth countries in Africa. Primarily, the results of this study can be a valuable resource for African governments and policymakers as they develop policies and evaluate legislation about the usage of renewable energy sources and other green practices. Finally, the study can shed light on creating and using efficient tax laws that support renewable energy sources.

Parliamentary reaction to the announcement and implementation of the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy: applied thematic analysis of 2016-2020 parliamentary debates

OBJECTIVE

The UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) (announced in March 2016; implemented in April 2018) aims to incentivise reformulation of soft drinks to reduce added sugar levels. The SDIL has been applauded as a policy success, and it has survived calls from parliamentarians for it to be repealed. We aimed to explore parliamentary reaction to the SDIL following its announcement until two years post-implementation in order to understand how health policy can become established and resilient to opposition.

DESIGN

Searches of Hansard for parliamentary debate transcripts that discussed the SDIL retrieved 186 transcripts, with 160 included after screening. Five stages of Applied Thematic Analysis were conducted: familiarisation and creation of initial codebooks; independent second coding; codebook finalisation through team consensus; final coding of the dataset to the complete codebook; and theme finalisation through team consensus.

SETTING

The United Kingdom Parliament.

PARTICIPANTS

N/A.

RESULTS

Between the announcement (16/03/2016) - royal assent (26/04/2017), two themes were identified 1: SDIL welcomed cross-party 2: SDIL a good start but not enough. Between royal assent - implementation (5/04/2018), one theme was identified 3: The SDIL worked - what next? The final theme identified from implementation until 16/03/2020 was 4: Moving on from the SDIL.

CONCLUSIONS

After the announcement, the SDIL had cross-party support and was recognised to have encouraged reformulation prior to implementation. Lessons for governments indicate that the combination of cross-party support and a policy's documented success in achieving its aim can help cement the resilience of it to opposition and threats of repeal.

Do financial constraint and perceived stress modify the effects of food tax schemes on food purchases: moderation analyses in a virtual supermarket experiment

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether financial constraint and perceived stress modify the effects of food-related taxes on the healthiness of food purchases.

DESIGN

Moderation analyses were conducted with data from a trial where participants were randomly exposed to: a control condition with regular food prices, an sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax condition with a two-tiered levy on the sugar content in SSB (5-8 g/100 ml: €0·21 per l and ≥8 g/100 ml: €0·28 per l) or a nutrient profiling tax condition where products with Nutri-Score D or E were taxed at a 20 percent level. Outcome measures were overall healthiness of food purchases (%), energy content (kcal) and SSB purchases (litres). Effect modification was analysed by adding interaction terms between conditions and self-reported financial constraint or perceived stress in regression models. Outcomes for each combination of condition and level of effect modifier were visualised.

SETTING

Virtual supermarket.

PARTICIPANTS

Dutch adults (n 386).

RESULTS

Financial constraint or perceived stress did not significantly modify the effects of food-related taxes on the outcomes. Descriptive analyses suggest that in the control condition, the overall healthiness of food purchases was lowest, and SSB purchases were highest among those with moderate/high levels of financial constraint. Compared with the control condition, in a nutrient profiling tax condition, the overall healthiness of food purchases was higher and SSB purchases were lower, especially among those with moderate/high levels of financial constraint. Such patterns were not observed for perceived stress.

CONCLUSION

Further studies with larger samples are recommended to assess whether food-related taxes differentially affect food purchases of subgroups.

The effects of health-related food taxes on the environmental impact of consumer food purchases: secondary analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial in a virtual supermarket

OBJECTIVE

To measure the effects of health-related food taxes on the environmental impact of consumer food purchases in a virtual supermarket.

DESIGN

This is a secondary analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial in which participants were randomly assigned to a control condition with regular food prices (n 152), an experimental condition with a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax (n 131) or an experimental condition with a nutrient profiling tax based on Nutri-Score (n 112). Participants were instructed to undertake their typical weekly grocery shopping for their households. Primary outcome measures were three environmental impact indicators: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land use and blue water use per household per week. Data were analysed using linear regression analyses.

SETTING

Three-dimensional virtual supermarket.

PARTICIPANTS

Dutch adults (≥ 18 years) who were responsible for grocery shopping in their household (n 395).

RESULTS

GHG emissions (-7·6 kg CO2-eq; 95 % CI -12·7, -2·5) and land use (-3·9 m2/year; 95 % CI -7·7, -0·2) were lower for the food purchases of participants in the nutrient profiling tax condition than for those in the control condition. Blue water use was not affected by the nutrient profiling tax. Moreover, the SSB tax had no significant effect on any of the environmental impact indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

A nutrient profiling tax based on Nutri-Score reduced the environmental impact of consumer food purchases. An SSB tax did not affect the environmental impact in this study.

Challenges to the development of taxation policies for sugar-sweetened beverages in Colombia

Frequent consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) is related to the risks of developing overweight, obesity, cavities, diabetes and other diseases. Policies to significantly increase taxes on SSB have proven to be effective in reducing their consumption. The political debate on implementing these taxes in Colombia shows a series of barriers to placing this policy on the political agenda, and therefore, to its approval. This work analyses the political process involved in the struggle for the approval of an SBB tax in Colombia, as well as barriers and opportunities to putting it on the political agenda. This is done through a policy analysis with three research methods: a documentary analysis, political mapping of actors and semistructured interviews with key actors. Among the main findings, we have that actors who are in favour of the SSB tax stated that it is needed due to the health problems caused by SSB consumption, while those who opposed it argue that Colombia regulations are sufficient and already inform and educate consumers on excessive sugar consumption and its health implications. The Colombian political context is a barrier to SSB taxation, as the government favours and has a close connection with the food and SSB industry. In short, the policy issue has been reaching the agenda intermittently throughout the years. Nevertheless, new opportunities are arising after the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 administrative changes and further efforts from policy entrepreneurs are required to make this initiative progress in the political agenda.