A carbon tax is a tax on the use of fossil fuels such as oil, petrol, diesel, gas, coal and peat.
In Ireland, prior to Budget 2020 the carbon tax was levied at €20 per tonne of CO2.
On 8th October 2019 – Carbon tax on diesel and petrol was increased to €26 per tonne. This resulted in a price rise of about 2c per litre.
The carbon tax on other fuels was increased to €26 a tonne from May 1st 2020
The government say that in 2020 all funds raised by the carbon tax will go towards climate action.
The increase to €26 per tonne resulted in the following price increases in May 2020
- €0.72 extra on the cost of a 40kg bag of coal;
- 16 cents extra on a bale of peat briquettes;
- 2 cents extra on a litre of diesel/ petrol
- €14 extra on the average annual gas bill
- €15.50 extra on 900 litres of heating oil
Overall Cost of Carbon Tax on Fuels from May 2020 (Approximate)
- €2.82 on a 40kg bag of coal;
- 61 cents on a bale of briquettes;
- and 7 cents to a litre of diesel/petrol
- €60 (Inc. VAT) on the average gas bill
- €65 on 900 litres of heating oil
If you want to cut your energy bills take a look at our Gas Price Comparison and Electricity Price Comparison
History of Carbon Tax
The first time we had a Carbon Tax in Ireland was back in the 2010 Budget . It was first introduced at a rate of €15 Euro per Tonne. (But not on solid fuels.)
The Carbon Tax was then increased to €20 a tonne in the 2012 Budget – which was a 66% increase.
(Don’t forget – VAT is charged on top of the Carbon Tax too).
Carbon Tax was first added to solid fuels in May 2013 at a rate of €10 per tonne. This was doubled in May 2014 to fall in line with other fuels.
It was proposed that carbon tax would be increased in 2019 by 50% to €30 a tonne – but this didn’t happen.
The Climate Change Advisory Council Council recommended that the carbon tax should be increased to €35 euros per tonne in 2020, increasing to at least 80 euros per tonne by 2030.