AnalysisEUSugar taxes3 min read
Europe’s soft drinks lobby, UNESDA, says taxes on sugary drinks do not work. The evaluations of the taxes already in place tell a different story.
In short
- UNESDA says it shares the goal of better public health, but argues that beverage taxes have not reduced obesity and only make everyday life more expensive.
- Independent evaluations show that well-designed taxes cut purchases of sugary drinks and push manufacturers to remove sugar from their recipes.
- We ask for taxes based on sugar content, with tiers that reward reformulation, and revenues spent on prevention.
Two readings of the same taxes
What UNESDA says
Taxes don’t work
For its director-general, beverage taxes “have not reduced obesity or improved health outcomes”. UNESDA adds that the WHO does not list them among its “best buy” policies.
What the evaluations show
Less sugar sold
In Mexico, purchases of taxed drinks fell by 6% in the first year and kept falling in the second. In the United Kingdom, most drinks were reformulated to escape the levy, and reformulation accounts for over 80% of the calories removed.
A tax is not a cure for obesity on its own, and no serious public health body claims it is. It is one tool, and the evidence shows that it changes what people buy and what manufacturers sell.
Why it matters
Denmark taxed soft drinks from the 1930s until 2014. The government scrapped the tax to win back sales lost to cross-border shopping and to create jobs, and UNESDA welcomed the decision. The year after, Danes drank 38 million litres more soft drinks.
Researchers who interviewed experts across the WHO European Region found that sugary drinks taxes have been persistently opposed by manufacturers, mostly through direct lobbying, with arguments about economic harm. UNESDA declares 49 high-level meetings with the European Commission since 2014.
What we ask
Our proposal
Tax sugary drinks according to their sugar content, with tiers that reward reformulation, and spend the revenues on prevention.
Taxes are set by Member States. We ask them to follow the WHO’s call for stronger health taxes, to extend the principle to sweetened milk drinks and foods high in added sugars, and to protect these taxes from industry pressure.
Contact usWhat happens next
- 14 Oct 2026German cabinet adopts a tax on sugary drinks
- Nov 2026Bundestag debate, as conservative MPs push for a later start
- 1 Jul 2027Planned start of Italy’s tax, postponed eight times since 2020
- 2030Planned start of a Dutch tax on sugar in food
We follow every sugar tax debate in the EU and publish where each Member State stands.
Go further
Sources
- Travel Tomorrow, WHO calls for more taxation on sugary drinks and alcohol, with the reaction of UNESDA’s director-general, January 2026.
- Colchero M.A. et al., Beverage purchases from stores in Mexico under the excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages, BMJ, 2016.
- Colchero M.A. et al., In Mexico, evidence of sustained consumer response two years after implementing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax, Health Affairs, 2017.
- Scarborough P. et al., Impact of the UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy on sugar content, PLOS Medicine, 2020.
- Dickson A., Gehrsitz M., Kemp J., Does a spoonful of sugar levy help the calories go down?, Review of Economics and Statistics.
- BeverageDaily, Denmark to scrap decades-old soft drink tax, 25 April 2013; The Copenhagen Post, Drowning in pop, 20 January 2015.
- University of Bath, Policy measures designed to protect public health threatened by persistent corporate lobbying (European Journal of Public Health).
- EU Transparency Register via LobbyFacts, as shown on our Lobbying weight page (UNESDA, 2024 declaration).
