Ministers cautious on EU-wide CO2 tax proposal
The European Commission's plans to introduce an EU-wide carbon tax to leverage money for financing a post-Kyoto climate treaty received a positive but cautious welcome from finance ministers last week.
The European Commission's plans to introduce an EU-wide carbon tax to leverage money for financing a post-Kyoto climate treaty received a positive but cautious welcome from finance ministers last week.
Meeting in Sweden on 1-2 October, the Commission floated the idea of imposing a carbon tax on sectors outside the EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier) for the first time at ministerial level.
"There were not many reactions but those reactions were all positive," said Taxation Commissioner László Kovács, speaking to journalists after the meeting.
He indicated that the Commission had been encouraged to propose the legislation next year at the earliest.
"The introduction of a new tax in the European Union has never been easy and particularly it's not easy in the time of a financial and economic crisis," Kovács said.
"But it is evident that climate change is an even more disastrous global challenge than the current financial and economic crisis."
The EU ETS only covers around 45% of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions, leaving out major emitting sectors, notably agriculture and transport.
The Commission has been drafting a proposal to review the current Energy Taxation Directive in order to address these and small industrial installations excluded from carbon trading.
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