Carbon tax increases should be deferred until the Government legally ringfences the income for climate-saving measures, according to environmental expert Dr Cara Augustenborg.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the UCD Environmental Policy professor and Down to Earth presenter said people are already changing their behaviour in response to surging energy prices.
She said the energy crisis should force a re-think at Government level – with smaller-scale retrofitting prioritised over large projects.
Currently, an increase to carbon tax on home heating fuels is due to come into effect on May 1st.
The next increase to the carbon tax on transport fuels is scheduled for October 12th.
Dr Augustenborg said those changes should be deferred until legislation ringfencing the proceeds for environmental measures is in place.
“I’m generally in favour of carbon tax because it gets people to change their behaviour,” she said.
“As they see the cost of carbon is going to increase, they maybe invest in fossil fuel-free technologies – but actually, because we are seeing that behavioural change now already in response to the energy crisis, I think it makes sense to defer this current carbon tax increase.
“Certainly, the commitment in the Programme For Government that the Government would legislate to allocate all of the carbon tax increases toward carbon tax measures hasn’t happened yet.
“I think, until the government actually does their legislation and commits to allocating that money to carbon savings measures, it makes sense not to put undue burden on citizens until they have lived up to their end of the bargain.”
I'm generally in favour of carbon tax for changing behaviour, but behavior is already changing now in response to energy crisis. Until G'ment fulfils PfG promise to legislate for hypothecation of c tax, it makes sense to defer upcoming increase & not add to people's stress imho. https://t.co/05YkS0Sh6q
— Dr. Cara Augustenborg (@CAugustenborg) April 4, 2022
The Newstalk presenter said many of the things we need to do to address the energy crisis are the same things we need to do to address the climate crisis.
“We need a rapid emergency-level response to the energy crisis and that comes in the form of energy retrofit – so putting wall insulation and attic insultation into as many homes as possible over the next six months to protect us in the coming winter,” she said. “Particularly in homes that are already facing fuel poverty.”
Unfortunately, c tax has yet to be allocated in full to climate action and makes up a very small portion of budget for insulation etc. This is something Gment committed to legislate for and once they do, I would agree with you.
— Dr. Cara Augustenborg (@CAugustenborg) April 4, 2022
She said policy should focus on smaller retrofitting projects to get as many houses upgraded as possible.
“Instead of focusing on deep energy retrofit which is very costly and time consuming and requires people to move out of their house and stump up a lot of cash, maybe for now - for the next six months - we should be focusing instead on smaller-scale insulation methods that are not as cumbersome,” she said.
“Projects the Government really could cover most of the costs for and had committed to covering most of the costs for, just to address this current energy crisis too.”
Opposition parties and some government backbenchers and senators have already called for the carbon tax increases to be deferred.
You can listen back to Dr Augustenborg here:
