Tax the worst climate polluters more, says EWABA
EWABA said fossil fuels that are the worst climate mitigators should always be taxed higher than sustainable biofuels.
Concerns have been raised about possible European Commission plans to tax fossil fuels and crop-based biofuels at the same rate.
The EU executive recently proposed the revision of the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), whose current tax rates do not take into account the environmental performance of energy products, as reported by Euractive.
Fears have been highlighted that if crop-based biofuels are taxed at the same rate as fossil fuels, transport decarbonisation will be badly affected.
Leonidas Kanonis, director for communications and analysis, said: “The greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction performance should be prioritized when taxing or promoting a fuel through a policy mechanism. Low carbon liquid fuels are essential for slashing transport GHG emissions, especially from sectors which are harder to electrify like on-road heavy duty vehicles, ships and airplanes. We represent the waste-based biofuels sector but consider all sustainable biofuels important and ready to contribute to climate mitigation efforts.“
He added: “EWABA believes in the promotion of sustainable renewable fuels to help decarbonise the transport sector, and supports the enforcement of a taxation system based on a well-to-tank approach, which measures the environmental performance of the fuel during its full lifetime. Therefore, fossil fuels that are worse climate mitigators should always be taxed higher than sustainable biofuels, and higher taxes would help to bridge the price gap between low-carbon and fossil fuel alternatives.
“Quite importantly, we have to ask how the EU wants to fulfil the ambitious GHG reduction 2030 target if they ban certain options by taxing them in an way that make them uncompetitive. And especially now that we are experiencing the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the EU should mobilize all kind of domestic sustainable energy sources to become more independent from energy imports.“
Concerns have been raised about possible European Commission plans to tax fossil fuels and crop-based biofuels at the same rate.
The EU executive recently proposed the revision of the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), whose current tax rates do not take into account the environmental performance of energy products, as reported by Euractive.
Fears have been highlighted that if crop-based biofuels are taxed at the same rate as fossil fuels, transport decarbonisation will be badly affected.
Leonidas Kanonis, director for communications and analysis, said: “The greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction performance should be prioritized when taxing or promoting a fuel through a policy mechanism. Low carbon liquid fuels are essential for slashing transport GHG emissions, especially from sectors which are harder to electrify like on-road heavy duty vehicles, ships and airplanes. We represent the waste-based biofuels sector but consider all sustainable biofuels important and ready to contribute to climate mitigation efforts.“
He added: “EWABA believes in the promotion of sustainable renewable fuels to help decarbonise the transport sector, and supports the enforcement of a taxation system based on a well-to-tank approach, which measures the environmental performance of the fuel during its full lifetime. Therefore, fossil fuels that are worse climate mitigators should always be taxed higher than sustainable biofuels, and higher taxes would help to bridge the price gap between low-carbon and fossil fuel alternatives.
“Quite importantly, we have to ask how the EU wants to fulfil the ambitious GHG reduction 2030 target if they ban certain options by taxing them in an way that make them uncompetitive. And especially now that we are experiencing the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the EU should mobilize all kind of domestic sustainable energy sources to become more independent from energy imports.“
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