Levelling the playing field: Aligning heating energy taxes and levies in Europe with climate goals

High energy prices in Europe leave governments less room to use taxes to drive the energy transition. Yet the urgent need to decarbonise the buildings sector to meet climate goals means accounting for varying environmental costs when taxing different sources of energy. In a new study, RAP and 3E make the case for reforming energy taxation. We explore the current structure of taxes and levies in five key countries where reform would be beneficial, and offer recommendations for rebalancing.

Revitalising EU-Ukraine cross-border infrastructure

Prior to the war in Ukraine, the nation was moving towards greater integration with Europe’s energy system and making progress on the transition to clean energy. Today’s energy landscape, by contrast, shows damaged infrastructure and frequent curtailment of burgeoning renewable energy resources. Reconnecting the EU and Ukrainian power systems can help improve energy security, provide funds for continuing operation and restoration, and facilitate greater integration of renewables. RAP and the Ukrainian Energy Transition Coalition explain how.

Is REPowerEU the right recipe for moving away from Russian gas?

With its recent REPowerEU communication, the European Commission sets forth a laudable goal of “rapidly reducing our dependence on Russian fossil fuels by fast-forwarding the clean transition.” The main ingredients for Europe’s energy transition are efficiency and renewable resources. It is therefore worrying that the Commission’s recently released delegated act defining renewable hydrogen allows for significant development of hydrogen that ultimately may not be green or renewable. More from RAP in Euractiv.

FURTHER NOTES

• Catch the latest episode of the Watt Matters podcast featuring Jesse Jenkins from Princeton University.

Listen here

• Electric mobility. Inevitable or not? Tune in to this webinar featuring Aleksander Rajch of the Polish Alternative Fuels Association and RAP’s Julia Hildermeier.

Watch here

Electrification starts at home. CLASP and RAP quantified the value of replacing existing air conditioning units with highly efficient electric heat pumps that can both heat and cool indoor spaces. Their new study finds that this switch could reduce heating costs in the United States by $13.6 billion and carbon dioxide emissions by 67 million tons per year.

Read more

Source: UK was worst in Europe for heat pump installations in 2021, New Scientist