CO2 taxation is now well established across the European Union. Most EU member states currently apply some form of CO2 tax to the registration and/or ownership of passenger cars.
This document provides an overview of CO2-based motor vehicle taxes in the European Union.
The 20 EU countries that levy passenger car taxes partially or totally based on the cars’ CO2 emissions and/or fuel consumption are: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The European automobile industry welcomes this trend towards CO2-related car taxation. However, it regrets the lack of uniformity in the implementation of these taxes. European auto makers therefore support taxation for passenger cars that is:
exclusively based on CO2 emissions;
technologically neutral;
linear; and
budget neutral.