Environmental tax measures Contents

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Introduction

The government has ambitious environmental objectives. The UK is legally committed to bringing all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, and the government’s overall ambition is to leave the natural environment in a better state. Tax measures are an important tool in implementing environmental policy. Taxes can be levied on goods or services which harm the environment and thus incentivise businesses and people to change their behaviour. Tax reliefs can also encourage taxpayers to use environmentally friendly products or services. Tax measures can be used alongside other policy tools such as regulation to achieve environmental objectives.

Ministers decide on whether to use tax measures to support environmental goals. Where measures are used, HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs (the exchequer departments) are responsible for designing the measures to achieve objectives set by ministers, and for monitoring and evaluating their impact. HM Treasury is responsible for the strategic oversight of the tax system and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for administering the system.

HM Treasury and HMRC administer four taxes with explicit environmental objectives (referred to as environmental taxes throughout this report). Two are taxes on energy. The Climate Change Levy is paid by businesses and public sector organisations on consumption of energy through their energy suppliers. The Carbon Price Support is paid by electricity generators on the fossil fuels they use. The other two tax the disposal of waste at landfill sites (Landfill Tax) and the extraction of rock, sand and gravel (Aggregates Levy). These four taxes raised £3 billion in 2019–20. Other taxes, such as fuel duty (£28 billion in 2019–20), have an impact on government’s environmental objectives but do not have specific environmental objectives.