The French government has vowed to press ahead with reformed plans for a national carbon tax, after the French Constitutional Council last week blocked the original proposal. Chantal Joanno, France’s junior minister for ecology, announced late last week that a new version of the controversial tax legislation will be put before parliament next month and could still come into force as early as April. Last Tuesday, the Council ruled against the tax, which aimed to introduce a levy of €17 ($24) a tonne on oil, coal and gas consumption.
The Constitutional Council ruled against the legislation on the grounds that it offered too many exemptions, arguing that 93 per cent of industrial emissions were exempt from the levy. (Sarkozy said) that the tax would serve to establish France as “the world leader of non-carbon energies, by developing renewable energy and drawing on its industrial know-how”.
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