Press Statement

Preasráiteas

30 March 2021

Go to release: Fossil Fuel Subsidies 2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 March 2021) published Fossil Fuel Subsidies 2019. The report analyses the average effective carbon rate per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for the main fossil fuels. The report also combines direct fossil fuel subsidies such as the Public Service Obligation (PSO) Levy support to electricity generation from peat with indirect subsidies such as the amount of revenue foregone by the State through lower excise duty rates to estimate the total cost of fossil fuel subsidies.

Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division Clare O’Hara commented: ”Total fossil fuel subsidies in 2019 were €2.4 billion. This was an increase of 1% on 2018 and 69% higher than in the year 2000 which is the first year in our series.

Looking at the data, we found that the highest average effective carbon rate per tonne of carbon dioxide was €259 for petrol, which is mainly used by private motorists in urban areas. The average effective carbon rate for autodiesel was lower at €183 per tonne of carbon dioxide due to the lower excise duty rate applied to this fuel.

Jet kerosene used for commercial aviation is exempt from excise and carbon taxes. Using the excise duty for heavy oil used for air navigation as a benchmark, we estimated that the amount of revenue foregone in 2019 on jet kerosene due to the tax exemption was €634 million.

Using the petrol excise duty rate as a benchmark, we estimated the amount of revenue foregone on autodiesel in 2019 due to a lower excise duty rate as €400 million.

The average effective carbon rate for marked gas oil, sometimes referred to as ‘green diesel’, used in agriculture, forestry and fishing was €35 per tonne of carbon dioxide.

Some fossil fuel subsidies provide important social supports. The household electricity allowance was €105 million, and the household fuel allowance was €94 million in 2019.

The VAT refund on autodiesel for business use was €281 million in 2019.”

People living in rural areas often have fewer public transport options available to them and may have longer commuting distances. Increasing the effective carbon price of autodiesel would probably have a greater impact on rural households than urban households.

The CSO publishes separate statistical releases on Environment Taxes and on Environmental Subsidies. Those releases showed that Energy Taxes were €3.0 billion in 2019 while Environmental Subsidies on energy and emissions were €0.4 billion.

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