What is the Carbon Footprint Tax?
According to the Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions ( https://www.c2es.org ) the carbon tax is a tax where the government sets a price that emitters must pay for each ton of greenhouse gas emissions they emit. It was first imposed in Europe, Finland. This was quite recently actually, in 1990.
Image from the Tax Foundation Europe website https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/eu/carbon-taxes-europe-2024/
This tax aims to motivate reducing carbon emissions because this way emitters will want to reduce their emissions to avoid paying the tax. If it’s not possible to decrease their use of energy, emitters are also expected to use more environmentally-friendly energy sources, also to avoid paying the tax.
This tax applies to all emitters, one is an exception! So, make sure to start preparing from now. This tax will be imposed to emitters such as yourselves, fossil fuel producers and importers, and all industries (e.g. energy production, transportation, manufacturing).
What about Cyprus?
Currently, in February 2025, Cyprus has not yet implemented a carbon footprint tax. The exact date that it will be implemented is yet to be decided. In March 2024, the Ministry of finance with the University of Cyprus showed the planned the carbon tax on energy products, and other details on the coming green tax changes.
Do you know for which energy product emissions the carbon footprint tax will be imposed? Well, energy products such as petrol, liquid petroleum gas, gas oil and kerosene are all large pollutants. This tax is aimed for these energy products to be used less.
How much is the carbon tax expected to be?
The tax rates were planned to begin at €0.05 per litre in 2024. Now, they are planned to slowly increase to €0.25 per litre by 2033.
So, as individuals but also as a community, what can we do to replace our energy polluters? There are a number of things businesses in Cyprus and you as an individual can do to reduce your carbon footprint and avoid paying the tax. A few suggestions is to switch fuels and start using new, more environmentally sustainable technologies, such as solar panels. Using electrical vehicles is also a good idea.
If you feel that all this is too costly, you can simply use less energy at home. You can save energy by changing a few details in your daily routine. For example, do not leave the sink running while brushing teeth. According to Colgate’s website (https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/brushing-and-flossing/five-water-conservation-tips), if you leave the water running, you can end up losing as much as four gallons of water each time you brush your teeth. That’s 8 gallons a day, 200 a month, and over 2400 gallons a year! Another way you can easily use less energy is to only use lights when necessary. If you see your hallway light open and no one is using the hallway, you can just click the switch and you’re already using less energy. The same goes for fans and air conditioning – there’s no reason to keep them both on at the same time!
What if you want to know your carbon footprint? Simply take an LCA – Life Cycle Assessment. This will determine how environmentally friendly your methods of emission are. You can take them anywhere online – just search up “LCA test” and answer the questions!