Carbon fund ‘stealth tax’ angers environmentalists

BRIAN COWEN’S plan for a €20 million carbon fund to tackle greenhouse gas emissions was criticised by environmentalists yesterday as a stealth tax.

The fund will be used to purchase pollution credits under the international carbon trading scheme to help Ireland meet its Kyoto obligations.

But Friends of the Earth said Mr Cowen should not have abandoned plans for a carbon tax, which would have been more successful in cutting pollution.