Samenvatting

The transition towards sustainable, healthy diets in Europe is necessary to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is well established that meat production and consumption are unsustainable from environmental and health points of view. Therefore, a reduction in meat consumption is an essential part of the transition towards sustainable, healthy diets in Europe. This dissertation aims to substantiate the implementation of a meat tax to reduce meat consumption in the Netherlands. It evaluates to what extent the tobacco tax case can function as an example for implementing a meat tax in the Netherlands. A comparative case study was used, where the tobacco tax and meat tax were examined in-depth through collected primary qualitative data of a conducted interview. And through secondary quantitative and qualitative data collected through academic journals, books, reports, websites, articles, statistics, and newspapers. In the analysis, the results of the in-depth examination of the tobacco tax case and the meat tax case were compared on their differences, similarities and patterns. The analysis produced generalized knowledge and insights on reducing consumption and the causal relationship between taxation and a reduction in consumption. The analysis shows that the tobacco tax case and the meat tax case are parallel to another based on their objective, approach, and causal relationship between taxation and a reduction in consumption. The findings show that the tobacco tax case sets an excellent example of how a multidisciplinary approach can reduce consumption. Policies focused on raising awareness of the negative externalities of meat and price increases of meat products are prominent policy initiatives in a multidisciplinary approach to reduce meat consumption in the Netherlands. These results suggest that implementing a meat tax is an effective measure to reduce meat consumption in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the analysis produced generalized knowledge and insights on the repercussions of using taxation to reduce consumption. Regressive effects on low-income households, indirect rebound effects, cross-border shopping and illicit trade, were identified as possible repercussions. Financial support to low-income households, progressively graduated prices, policy mixes, and economy-wide pricing were identified as potential methods to mitigate these repercussions. However, the analysis shows that further research is required to determine and assess the possible repercussions and ways to minimize those repercussions. This dissertation concludes that the tobacco tax case provides an excellent example of how to reduce meat consumption in the Netherlands and how a meat tax plays a prominent part in this transition.