Redesign tax system to help 'fight against climate change', says ACCA

12 Dec 2018

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has published a report calling on governments to help tackle climate change by redesigning their tax systems.

The ACCA argues that tax has an 'important part to play' in combating the 'unrelenting pace' of climate change.

The measures that have been introduced so far, such as carbon taxes, landfill levies and taxes on single-use plastics 'may help' to combat climate change, according to the ACCA, but are ultimately 'not enough'. The ACCA is urging governments to think 'more widely' about what they need to tax and how tax revenues will be used.

Yen-pei Chen, Corporate Reporting and Tax Manager at the ACCA, said: 'Governments need to put a price on pollution and resource-use, starting with abolishing fossil fuel subsidies and pricing carbon emissions.

'Tax revenues can be used to reduce taxes on labour and increase social protection, in particular addressing the needs of lower-income households.'