POLITICIANS and bigwigs from over 190 countries gathered for a UN climate-change summit in Bangkok starting on Monday March 31st. International efforts are being stepped up as the scientific outlook becomes increasingly pessimistic. At national level, however, environmentally-related taxes in many countries have fallen. Across the OECD as a whole, such taxes made up an average of 5.6% of total tax receipts in 2005, down from 5.9% in 1996.

AFP