May 19, 2008

Estonian cattle farmers to pay for "gases"

Farmers in Estonia will now have a "digestive gases tax" as their cattle's contribution to climate change.

The new tax aims to compensate for the greenhouse gas that cows produce during their life.

Experts say an ordinary cow's daily digestion results in an estimated 350 litres of methane and 1,500 litres of carbon oxide released into the atmosphere. They add farms account for as much as a quarter of Estonia's greenhouse gas emission.

Opposition parties in the European Union have called the new tax "unprecedented" in the region.