Spain wants the EU to tax oil and gas company profits to fund measures to adapt to climate change, after drought and wildfires ravaged western Europe during the region’s hottest summer on record. Countries in southern Europe like Spain, Portugal, Italy and France have experienced dramatic effects from heatwaves including water shortages and wildfires.
So far the European Commission has rejected calls for windfall taxes on oil and gas, but have allowed member states to implement them at the national level. For example, Portugal has set a 33% windfall tax for the year 2026. The EU has previously implemented a temporary windfall tax in the proposed manner in September 2022.
However, fossil fuel companies have argued that windfall taxes were damaging and causing them to cancel investment plans in Europe. The CEO of ExxonMobil, has argued that energy deindustrialisation has left Europe short on refineries, leading to higher prices for consumers and greater risk of shortages.
ExxonMobil has claimed legal action might be taken to stop it from happening, and TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné has claimed that his company would stop capping the price of petrol at €1.99 per litre should France introduces new taxes.
Posted by Desperate_Wear_1866
1 Comment
Europe is becoming a really interesting example of the limits of a badly implemented, narrow Carbon Tax. The case for a broader carbon tax is strong. IMO the arguments for taxes on O&G profits are weak, except that Europeans seem increasingly allergic to anyone making money for any reason.