Majority USA civil groups for CO2-tax meat- & dairy industries

According to a recent survey of 2,203 Americans by Morning Star and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, published in April 2025, there is a majority in favour of a greenhouse gas tax for the meat and dairy industry, among specific groups of Americans such as Democratic voters (51%), black Americans (55%) and GenZers (53%). GenZers are Americans born during the late 1990s and early 2000s (now 20-30 years old). Out of the whole population, a minority of 40% support this. Experience from European surveys on such taxes shows that this minority could become a majority if the question on the tax were linked to a proposal on how the tax proceeds could be used to lower the price of climate-friendly or healthy food and to financially support farmers to reduce emissions.

Key Findings

Americans are generally unaware that food contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, much less what foods are responsible for driving emissions. Only 9% of Americans can name a food that they know that contributes to most greenhouse gas emissions. Most Americans correctly rank beef to be the top emitter in a set of beef, cheese, vegetables, tofu, and nuts (54%). Still, many adults (20%) ranked vegetables as the top emitter in the set, above both beef and cheese; showcasing a need for public education on agriculture and food emissions. Adults appear to be generally aware of this gap in knowledge in that most agree that federal food policy should discuss the impact of food choices on climate change (60%), and the government should offer incentives to animal agriculture farmers to transition to growing crops and orchards instead (59%). 

Nearly half of adults (45%) would consider eating a plant-based diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that framing plant-based diets as an actionable part of the solution to climate change could aid in broader adoption of such diets. However, taxation on meat and dairy industries for their greenhouse gas emissions is slightly more divisive, as many adults may interpret this as potentially increasing the price of the foods they purchase from these industries. Gen Z and Black adults are among the least likely to initially understand which foods are the highest emitters, yet these cohorts are among the most likely to be supportive of policy changes to educate the public and transform farmland and the tax for the meat and dairy industry. They also are among the highest considerers of plant-based diets.

Overall, there is broad support for policy and systematic change in public education and animal agriculture for the benefit of the environment, and there is only hesitancy regarding taxes and personal adoption of plant-based diets. Hesitancy regarding taxes can be transformed into a majority support if politicians tell how they will use tax revenues for reducing prices of other foods or how they would support farmers with additional subsidies for green transitions.  

TAPP Coalition director Jeroom Remmers comment on the survey: 'It shows the need for consumer awareness campaigns on the climate connection to several food products and the need for American food and agriculture related policies to reduce GHG-emissions, including taxation of high-emitting foods and (fiscal) subsidies of food vouchers for low-emitting foods'.