‘Ration on climate unfriendly products’

We reward our own pieces of good environmental behaviour with extra benefits that largely negate this profit. Above all, others must also do something more about the environment. In this way we will never achieve the climate goals of Paris, can be read in an article in de Volkskrant of 17 February (Plus-article, for now only for subscribers).

Henriëtte Prast, professor of behavioural economics at Tilburg University, comes up with a rigorous solution: put products that are really bad for the environment, but on the voucher. That would work better than taxes, because otherwise rich people would be favoured compared to people with less money.

Prast calls an excess of CO2 and a shortage of water as the big environmental problems. It goes without saying that flying should be rationed for CO2 emissions, but also, for example, the use of meat and cotton because of the enormous amounts of water involved.