The European Commission is working on a new draft for a long awaited Energy Tax that could help alieviate the looming debt crisis in some EU Member States . The draft will have two components: the first is an energy tax based on fuels’ energy content rather than their volume as is the case  now. The second is a carbon tax, which is being discussed in the range of 4 to 30 euros per tonne of carbon dioxide.  Carbon taxation is already used by Denmark, Sweden and Ireland, and Britain, Germany and the Netherlands have various eco-taxes. The new rules would be phased in between 2013 and 2018, laying down minimum rates of taxation for everything from coal, to heating oil to biodiesel. The EHA went to see the Commission on May 10 to inquire about the consequences for hydrogen, which will be minimal if the CO2 will be taxed at the point of use. The EHA informed the cabinet of  EU’s new taxation commissioner Algirdas Šemeta on the latest developments in hydrogen applications. The Commission is discussing the new draft on June 23.
Recently the US National Academy of Sciences urged the government on May 19  to take drastic action to raise the cost of using coal and oil to slow global warming by introducing a carbon tax.