EU Policies and Regulation on CO2, Renewables and Energy Efficiency: A Critical Assessment of Recent Experiences - Green Energy and Efficiency: An Economic Perspective - page 26

Fig. 2 Energy tax collection per Member State in 2011, expressed as % of GDP

This section sets out to draw some general conclusions on the basis of the ideas
expressed in some recent OECD reports on energy taxation 13 and our own analysis
based on experience in energy and environmental policy in the EU. To complement
these conclusions, we mention various issues that should be taken into account
when exploring how each sector contributes to the funding of energy and envi-
ronment policies.
The report Taxing Energy Use (published by the OECD in January 2013)
analyses for the OECD as a whole and for each member country how energy
taxation is structured for three major sectors: transport, heating and electricity. The
general conclusion is that of the three, the transport sector pays most taxes. This is
con rmed both when analysing the information provided by the countries and when

grouping their information together in the form of simple and weighted averages for
the OECD as a whole. However, after this conclusion, the report also includes a
signi ections. We now sum up some

of the main issues mentioned in the report in this regard, as well as some of our own
ideas.
First of all, on the basis of the explanations provided in the report, it can be
concluded that just because transport is affected by more taxes than other sectors,
that does not mean that it is the sector that bears the highest energy or environ-
mental tax burden. This is con

cant number of very interesting additional re

rmed by the fact that the information from the
sample of countries under consideration reveals that the tax rates established for
transport address external

issues that go beyond the energy or environmental

13 OECD [ 23 , 24 ].