Today, scientists are paying particular attention to the problems of low efficiency of environmental taxation due to ineffective tax policies, lack of incentives to modernize production, low tax revenues to local budgets, and further growth of environmental pollution. In this context, it is rational to study the European experience of implementing environmentally friendly tax policy, which is relevant for Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to identify the shortcomings of the domestic tax system related to the negative impact on the environment, analysis of European environmental tax instruments and their practical effectiveness, analysis of the possibility of using foreign experience in the practice of domestic environmental taxation. Methods of comparison, structuring, grouping, and systematization were used in the research process. The article provides a comparative analysis of existing environmental taxes in the European Union and Ukraine during 2010-2019. The study found that the environmental tax burden in Ukraine is much lower than in the EU, which demonstrates a lack of understanding of the importance of environmental protection for businesses, the lack of adequate institutional mechanisms for control and responsibility in this area. A rating assessment of the system of environmental taxes has been developed, which considers the indicators of their environmental and economic efficiency and ease of collection. The criteria of the studied indicators are environmental and economic efficiency, the stability of environmental revenues, the possibility of tax evasion, administrative costs, social and political popularity. The need to use such indicators is due to the complexity of the assessment and its importance for both the environment and the socio-economic sphere. Based on the constructed matrix of distribution of environmental taxes, it was established that the tax that is the easiest to manage and most consistent with the value of environmental and economic efficiency is the environmental tax for air emissions of pollutants from stationary sources. Analysis of the experience of EU countries allows us to draw the following conclusions: conditions should be created to stimulate business to transition to environmentally friendly means of production by obtaining preferential credit resources, establishing a progressive taxation system in case of excessive pollution of the ecosystem.