§ Mr. HawkinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what provision he has made to take account of the 149W anti-competitive impact of relief from climate change taxes or levies made by environmental ministries in other EU countries as applied to gas companies. [120100]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government have sought to design the climate change levy in a way that maximises its environmental effectiveness while protecting the competitiveness of UK firms. This has involved taking into account developments in other EU countries.
In total, seven European Union countries have introduced carbon or energy taxes since 1990. The European Commission considers compliance with state aids rules for any reliefs from these taxes.
On current projections, most OECD countries will need to introduce new measures of one form or another if they are to meet their Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.