Germany is set to vote on Friday in its Bundesrat, the assembly of regional states, on a proposal to introduce a tax on sugary beverages and ban the sale of energy drinks to individuals under 16 years old. This initiative reflects growing public and cross-party support for stronger measures to address obesity and associated health problems.
The proposal, which will initiate the legislative process, does not specify the exact structure of the tax but suggests that any revenue generated should be allocated to health-related programs. Daniel Guenther, the state premier of Schleswig-Holstein and the proposal’s originator, emphasized that manufacturers currently lack incentives to reduce sugar content in their products. He stated that the tax would encourage reformulation of recipes to lower sugar levels.
In addition to the sugar tax, the plan calls for prohibiting the sale of energy drinks to minors due to their high caffeine, taurine, and sugar content. Guenther warned that these drinks are not harmless trendy beverages but can pose significant health risks, especially for young people.
Globally, over 100 countries have implemented taxes on sugary drinks, including about half of the European Union’s member states such as Belgium, France, and Portugal. However, the EU has not established a unified levy, leaving such decisions to individual nations.
Notably, while Guenther’s conservative CDU party initially opposed the tax in February, support has since emerged from some CDU members as well as from the Greens and Social Democrats. Johannes Wagner, a Green Party lawmaker, expressed backing for the measure, arguing that the beverage industry has little motivation to voluntarily reduce sugar content. He insisted that companies profiting from sugary drinks should contribute more to covering the health costs they generate.
Sabine Dittmar of the Social Democrats described the proposed tax as “sensible, necessary and long overdue,” advocating for a tiered system where drinks with higher sugar levels face heavier taxes than those with less sugar.
Public opinion also favors tougher action. A Forsa survey released in February found that approximately 60% of Germans support a levy on high-sugar soft drinks. Furthermore, a 2023 study led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich projected that a sugar tax modeled after Britain’s could reduce daily sugar consumption in Germany by 2 to 3 grams. The study estimated that such a tax could prevent or delay up to 244,000 cases of type 2 diabetes over two decades and save up to 16 billion euros ($17.3 billion) during that time.
Meanwhile, the German sugar industry association WVZ cautioned against the tax, arguing it might prompt manufacturers to substitute sugar with artificial sweeteners without improving public health outcomes. WVZ Director General Guenter Tissen stated that a sugar tax wrongly suggests that a single ingredient is responsible for obesity, noting that there is no scientifically reliable evidence supporting this claim.
