EU weighs new energy taxes as Germany calls for 'drastic' steps

• The European Union is considering new energy taxes to meet its climate targets.
• Top officials said on Friday, with Germany calling for "drastic steps" to reduce carbon emissions.
• Ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030 are part of the agenda of the new European Commission which will take office in November.

HELSINKI: The European Union is considering new energy taxes to meet its climate targets, top officials said on Friday, with Germany calling for "drastic steps" to reduce carbon emissions.

In the last decade, EU countries have led the global shift towards renewable energy and set up the world's largest emissions trading system to price carbon and reduce reliance on more polluting fuels.

However, the bloc's rules on energy taxation have not changed for more than 15 years.

They are "outdated and poorly adapted to climate change challenges and developments in energy policy at EU level," according to a document which EU finance ministers will discuss at meetings in Helsinki on Friday and Saturday.

Arriving at the meeting, German finance minister Olaf Scholz said "drastic steps" were needed to counter climate change and urged an international approach on the matter.

"We are in the process of finding out how we can limit CO2 consumption in agriculture, small businesses or transport," Scholz said.

The bloc's top economic commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters that options included a carbon tax and an overhaul of energy taxation.

Possible measures in a document prepared by the Finnish presidency of the EU included higher minimum tax rates on energy, fossil fuel levies and the end of waivers for the air and sea transport sectors.

Ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% by 2030 are part of the agenda of the new European Commission which will take office in November.

A confidential work programme prepared in July by Commission officials before the appointment of the commission's president-designate Ursula von der Leyen envisages legislative proposals to end tax exemptions for air and sea transport by early 2020 and a review of minimum tax rates on energy products by the end of next year.