The estimated cost to British business of new environmental regulations is estimated to be many billions of pounds a year. Proposals to increase the efficiency of gas boilers alone will cost the UK £2 billion, and implementing the proposed directive on diesel engine pollution will cost £70 million a year in extra fuel costs. Early EEC/EU calculations (1991) estimated that the proposed carbon tax could raise coal and heavy fuel costs by 30% (by 1995), electricity costs by 16% (by 2000) and natural gas costs by almost 31%, though not uniformly across the community due to national differences in existing tax regimes.
2. The environmental priorities of voters seldom square with those of risk evaluation by scientists. Environmental spending sometimes seems intended more to pacify the public than to make the world a cleaner place.