Carbon Tax is where householders and businesses will be charged a tax based on usage of fossil fuels which include oil, gas and coal. These fuels lead to carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere which is a significant contributor to climate change.

The impact this would have, on households most specifically, would be quiet significant. The cost of heating the home and the cost of running a car would rise substantially especially for those households where oil is the primary fuel source.

Under the Kyoto Agreement, Ireland is legally bound to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide it emits from 70.3 million tonnes in 2005 to 56.3 million tonnes or lower in 2020. It is suggested that a carbon tax is one of the key ways to reduce our emissions.

The following table outlines the potential tax applied at 3 different levels;

			@ €20/tonne	@ €30/tonne	@ €50/tonne
Type	Unit	C02 (kg) /Unit	*€ cent/unit Tax	*€ cent/unit tax	*€ cent/unit tax
Diesel	Litre	2.78	5.55	8.33	13.88
Electricity	kWhr	0.67	1.33	2.00	3.33
Natural Gas (H)	m³	2.11	4.23	6.34	10.57
Natural Gas (L)	m³	1.80	3.60	5.40	9.00
Fuel Oil (EL)	Litre	2.66	5.32	7.98	13.30
Propane	m³	5.96	11.91	17.87	29.78
Coal	Kg	3.04	6.08	9.12	15.20

* This is how we feel the carbon tax may be implemented.

Some examples of how the above table would apply to your household:

• If the Government introduces carbon tax at the rate of €20/ton of CO², then a householder burning 2,000 litres of Fuel oil will pay 2,000 x 5.32cents = €106.40 in carbon tax alone – this is added to the purchase price of the diesel oil.
  
  
  
  


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  Likewise, if it’s coal, and the tax is decided to be €30/tonne of CO², then the householder will pay 1000 x 9.12 cents = €91.20 per tonne of coal burned.

You can see the enormous effect this will have on all fossil fuel prices, once it goes ahead.

What is now being debated is the level of tax/tonne of CO²

Calculate your carbon footprint today