Analysis: Fuel-duty freeze has increased UK CO2 emissions by up to 5% | Carbon Brief
The freeze in fuel duty since 2010 means the UK’s CO2 emissions are as much as 5% higher than they would have been, Carbon Brief analysis shows.
The analysis comes amid widespread lobbying and speculation over the future of fuel duty in the UK’s next budget, due to be announced by the new chancellor Rishi Sunak on 11 March.
Fuel duty is currently applied to petrol and diesel sales in the UK at a rate of 58 pence per litre, plus VAT. Instead of rising with inflation, this rate has been frozen since 2010, meaning motorists have enjoyed a large price cut in real terms, even as public transport fares have risen faster than inflation.
If fuel duty had increased each year as planned in the June budget 2010, then pump prices would have been a fifth higher than they are today. Higher prices would have cut CO2 in 2019 by 2-18 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2), some 0.5-5.0% of overall UK carbon emissions, Carbon Brief analysis shows.
