The research demonstrates that Europe can meet a 30% carbon emission reduction by introducing a carbon tax of 25% of EU prices in 2020, with hardly any impact on GDP and a positive effect on employment rates.

To investigate the impacts of an Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) for Europe six separate scenarios have been designed and tested to understand a variety of tax reform options. The results regarding employment and CO2 reduction are best in scenario S3H, where they designed ETR with revenue recycling designed to meet cooperation EU 2020 30% greenhouse gas reduction target and with a high oil prices. This scenario would decrease the global amount of materials extracted by 5.3% and the amount of CO2 emissions by 15.6% compared to the baseline scenario in 2020. Moreover the results show the most positive employment effects and when compared to the other scenarios only small negative impacts on GDP.

From: Bleischwitz, Raimund, Welfens, Paul J. J. , Zhang, ZhongXiang (eds.) (2011) International Economics of Resource Efficiency. Eco-Innovation Policies for a Green Economy. Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg.

‘In spite of significant efforts in a number of countries and regions, many metal recycling rates are discouragingly low, and a ‘recycling society’ appears no more than a distant hope. The weak performance is especially frustrating because, unlike some other resources, metals are ‘inherently recyclable’’ says the study.

Recycling metals is between two and 10 times more energy efficient than smelting the metals from virgin ores. Meanwhile, the extraction of metals currently accounts for 7% of the world’s energy consumption, with emissions contributing significantly to climate change.

‘In theory, metals can be used over and over again, minimizing the need to mine and process virgin materials and thus saving substantial amounts of energy and water while minimizing environmental degradation. Raising levels of recycling world-wide can therefore contribute to a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy while assisting to generate ‘green jobs’,’ said UN under Secretary-General and UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner.

The full report can be found here (pdf).

UNEP (2011) Recycling rates of metals. A status report. A report of the Working Group on the Global Metal Flows to the International Resource Panel. Graedel T. E. et al.

PwC concludes that price increases of resources are broadly recognized as a risk. However, 80 per cent of those surveyed do not have any policies regarding scarcity of resources. Those who do take measures focus on efficiency rather than substitution of scarce resources.

PwC (2011) Duurzaamsheidsbarometer.

The article, entitled ‘Over belasting en broodroosters‘ (‘On Tax and Toasters’), explains how Ex’tax could make repair and maintenance services more affordable by raising tax on resources while lowering tax on labour.

A digital version of the magazine can be viewed here, we’re on page 42!

The sponsored magazine was spread by Dutch newspaper het Financieele Dagblad.

Reference: Maaike Kuyvenhoven, Over belasting en broodroosters, Q magazine, Juni 2011, Over (on)vergankelijkheid.

This is a cool infographic telling all about e-waste (or electronic waste).

Did you know, for example, that every year ‘the world tosses 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of electronics’ of which only 10-18% is recycled?

Note on Ex’tax:

In our society there are a lot of taxes on labour which make repairing and recycling very expensive (as you need people to do the job). Resources on the other hand are hardly taxed.

So now, it is often easier to purchase new products than to have your old stuff repaired or properly recycled.

Ex’tax is designed to make ‘virgin’ materials more expensive compared to recycled materials. Also it reduces the costs of labour.

Ex’tax can therefore be the game-changing step towards the reduction of e-waste.

The reason? There are (too) many ‘if’s’, this article explains.

Most importantly, Afghanistan is an inter-tribal warfare plagued nation. Also, corrupt government officials award concessions for the country’s major mineral deposits to bidders who pay the biggest bribes, not who are best suited to actually do the work.

Other obstacles are for example the growing hostility toward the West and the threat of nationalization of mines. And how to develop and run a mine in a responsible way in (what Forbes calls) the most dangerous country in the world?

It is very unlikely that Afghanistan will solve the upcoming resource scarcity problem as the existence of large mineral deposits doesn’t necessarily mean that the we’re actually going to be able to use these resources.

Based on: @metalminer

However, mining entities in the US pay no royalty charges for land from which they extract billions of dollars worth of minerals.

“They don’t pay a dime, not a penny for the gold and uranium they remove from public lands,” says Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Virtually every other country in world charges a royalty on hard rock minerals. It is absurd that we don’t do this.

In 2008, according to the National Mining Association, about $20 billion worth of metals were sold in the US. With, say, a 4% royalty, that translates into at least a $4 billion in payments for minerals owned by US taxpayers. Unsurprisingly, the mining industry is strongly opposed to changing the law.

From: William Lajeunesse (May 18, 2011) Minerals Mined on Federal Land Spared Taxes, Aided by Senator Reid. FoxNews.com

This is troubling news for anyone who uses helium, and that’s not just stores selling party balloons.

Anyone getting an MRI is depending on helium, whose extremely stable, supercooling properties maintain the scanning machines’ superconductive magnets. Also it is widely used in welding, optical fibers and LCD screens.

There are no practical ways of extracting helium from the air. ‘Once it is released to the atmosphere, say in the form of party balloons or [scientists] boiling helium, it is lost to the Earth forever’, Richardson states.

US law requires the whole national reserve of helium to be sold off before 2015, which causes the price to stay artificially low. Some scientists have begun trying to recover and recycle helium after use, however that is an expensive process. At the current price level recycling is not viable.

Richardson suggests raising the price of helium. ’I would think that a factor of five or 10 times that price would be better,” he said. “If helium was to be valued more, then it will be worth recovering.”

From: Leslie Tamura (October 11, 2010) Nation’s helium reserve running on empty? Washington Post

‘An environmental tax reform (ETR) shifting the tax burden from welfare-negative taxes, (e.g. on labour), to welfare-positive taxes, (e.g. on environmentally damaging activities, such as resource use or pollution) can be a win-win option to address both environmental and employment issues. At the same time, a long term tax shift will require relatively stable revenues from the environment related tax base.

ETR can also help to alleviate the possible adverse competitiveness effects of environmental taxes on specific sectors. If the action is closely co-ordinated at the Community level, these impacts can be further reduced compared to unilateral actions by Member States.

Reductions in labour taxation or social-security contributions which tend to benefit lower-income households, can counterbalance any possible regressive effect from environmental taxes.

Finally, with an ageing population, which increases pressure on public expenditure, and globalisation that makes taxation of capital and labour less viable, the shift of tax burden from direct taxation towards consumption and, in particular, environmentally damaging consumption, may provide considerable benefits from a fiscal perspective.’

From: Commission of the European Communities (2007) Green paper: on market-based instruments for environment and related policy purposes. COM (2007) 140 final, Brussels.

‘INVITES the Commission and Member States to develop a coherent mix of measures to make European materials use more sustainable by further considering: (a) market-based instruments, steering the market towards recycling and waste reduction and recycling certificates; the internalisation of environmental costs, and in particular Member States considering the possibility of shifting the revenue base for national budgets from taxing labour towards taxing energy and resource use’.

Council of the European Union (2010) Sustainable materials management and sustainable production and consumption: key contribution to a resource-efficient Europe.