EU to limit greenhouse gases through taxes

BRUSSELS, March 28 (UPI) -- The European Union says it will use taxation and other tools to help cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next 13 years.

As part of a new public debate on the issue, European Commission officials Stavros Dimas and Laszlo Kovacs said that the international group would implement market-based tools in its attempt to significantly limit the dangerous emissions by 2020, The EU Observer said.

Key among those market tools would be increased taxation on environmentally hazardous energy products.

Along such lines, Brussels is currently headlining an effort to force EU members to create both an energy tax and an environmental tax.

These taxes could then possibly work on a sliding scale, that would make more environmentally friendly items less costly.

Kovacs said such taxation efforts would not only offer a strong incentive to help the environment, but would generate revenues as well.

"Taxation should in the first place discourage what is undesirable, rewarding at the same time all sorts of positive behavior, be it energy savings or environment-friendly activities," he told the paper.