On 5 September 2025, the WHO Regional Office for Europe hosted a webinar exploring the evolving role of food taxes in promoting healthier diets and addressing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). With over 350 attendees, the event brought together experts from public health, economics, and policy to discuss a new policy brief developed by WHO Europe in collaboration with the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation at Imperial Business School (UK).

The webinar opened with a brief look at the need for upstream prevention strategies, particularly fiscal measures like taxes and subsidies, as 60% of adults and one in four children are living with obesity in Europe. Reformulation and front-of-pack labelling show promise but are often slow to yield results. While sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have been a focal point of past interventions, the policy brief advocates for a broader approach to food taxation that aligns with health and environmental goals without increasing the overall tax burden. The approach entails combining tax increases with tax reductions, or subsidies, to improve dietary outcomes without exacerbating cost-of-living pressures.

WHO’s new food tax policy brief recognises the complexity of food taxes but cautions against targeting a narrow range of food products due to potential substitution effects. An holistic approach is required that uses nutrient profiling models (NPMs) to assess food quality and guide differentiated tax rates. The brief outlines six “Good practice principles:”

1. Use a holistic definition of nutritional quality

2. Start from an assessment of existing food taxes

3. Incentivize healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices

4. Follow logical steps in the design of health taxes on food

5. Anticipate and counteract industry opposition

6. Design and implement a robust monitoring system

The approach proposed by the brief is supported by findings from a recent Nature paper which modelled potential VAT changes across Europe. This study showed that reducing VAT on fruits and vegetables while increasing it on meat and dairy could yield significant health and environmental benefits, including a 6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

A panel discussion featured insights from policymakers across Europe. Hungary has been taxing unhealthy foods since 2011 and has been effective in changing behaviour and funding public health initiatives. In Spain, the design of the tax and limited availability of data to support monitoring of the impacts has presented challenges for food taxes. The importance of evaluation was emphasised in order to ensure the tax is achieving its health purposes. The panel also stressed the need for fiscal measures to be part of a broader policy package. This includes stronger modelling of distributional impacts, integration with school meals and labelling policies, and improved public communication to enhance acceptability and equity.

Overall, the webinar reinforced that food taxes, when thoughtfully designed and aligned with existing fiscal structures, can be powerful tools for improving public health and sustainability. The policy brief offers governments a practical framework to assess and reform food taxation, encouraging a shift from isolated measures to comprehensive, equity-focused strategies.