The relevance of environmental problems on a global and local scale has been confirmed, and environmental taxes have been identified as one of the most powerful levers for solving the problem. Analysis of the European experience of the impact of economic means on the environmental situation, the choice of basic taxes in European countries belonging to the environmental category, consideration of the possibility of taking measures to reform the environmental taxation system of Ukraine, based on the experience of countries that have achieved significant success in this area. The problem aspects of environmental taxation in Ukraine are defined and ways of their solution are proposed taking into account the experience of countries that have achieved significant success in this direction.