Report

Report: Fuelling oil demand: What happened to fuel taxation in Europe?

April 13, 2011

This paper is written in the context of an expected proposal from the European Commission on a revision of the Energy Tax Directive. The new directive will likely propose new minimum tax levels for most forms of energy not covered by Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), including fuels used for surface transport.

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The objective of this report is threefold: to demonstrate the importance of EU action on fuel taxation in reducing CO₂ emissions of, and oil imports for, transport and, indirectly through smart use of revenues, in fighting unemployment; to investigate trends in fuel taxes and fuel prices in the EU and its member states since 1980, and the impacts of these developments and to explain the root causes of these trends and offer recommendations for the forthcoming review of the energy tax directive.

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