Charge fuel tax to the driver

That's how you do it

Model studies show that a general increase in fuel tax has a positive impact on air pollutant emissions and thus on air quality. This 'polluter pays' measure may encounter objections related to environmental and social justice. Moreover, this political choice may not be popular with road users. Since this measure affects just about everyone, you can expect a significant impact on exposure and health.

Several model studies in different regions (Flanders and Brussels, but also Europe) evaluated the impact of fuel tax. Furthermore, a working group of researchers and policy makers in Belgium performed a more qualitative analysis of fuel taxation. These are the main effects that emerged from the pilot studies:

• NO _x : It is estimated that in Europe there is a 6% reduction possible through fuel tax and 32% reduction through an updated road tax.
• Particulate matter (PM) : A 7% reduction is expected in Europe due to fuel tax, and 10% reduction due to updated traffic tax.
• Soot (EC) : A decrease of 2.33% in exposure to elemental carbon is possible in Flanders, taking into account people's travel behaviour.
• Other pollutants : Residents from non-urban areas benefit twice from the lower concentrations in the urban areas where they work/shopping/relaxing and the reduced exposure during transport.

Researchers specialized in air quality and Belgian policy makers consider this measure important to achieve PM standards. They expect that introducing fuel tax can also play a somewhat important role in knowledge development. No reliable historical results are available at this time.

The main advantages of fuel tax:

• Lowers greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduces traffic congestion
• Shorten the travel time
• Limits the number of traffic accidents
• Reduces noise pollution
• Increases government revenue (and frees up additional resources to use for other environmental activities)
• May make people choose public transport more often
• Encourages choosing more efficient vehicles that run on clean fuel and with fewer emissions
• Makes people more aware of the importance of good air quality

Knowing more

Fuel tax – modeled exposure to elemental carbon

Flanders, Belgium - 2012

A model study in Flanders and Brussels investigated the exposure to elemental carbon (EC, black smoke, soot) using a simulation model. In it, the researchers linked transport, emissions, diffusion and exposure while simulating a 20% increase in the price of fuel. If people's daytime travel behavior was taken into account, the researchers expected an average decrease of 2.33% in exposure.

Fuel tax – modeled reduction of particulate matter

Flanders, Belgium - 2011

Researchers developed a risk assessment to evaluate actions and decisions to reduce air pollution. For example, a working group was set up with research and policy experts that ranked the possible actions according to different criteria. They looked at their importance for the reduction of air pollution, their role in knowledge development, their past performance and their future feasibility. Car or fuel tax was one of the actions examined. The working group considered this load to be very important to achieve the standards for particulate matter. The tax was deemed 'somewhat important' for knowledge development, even though this measure has not yielded much in the past.

Fuel tax – fewer traffic-related emissions

Europe - 1999

This model studies a number of possible measures to reduce traffic-related emissions across Europe, including through fuel taxation. On the one hand, this concerns a fuel tax to reduce CO ₂ emissions, and on the other hand, it concerns an updated annual road tax. This tax takes into account emission factors and kilometers travelled, and focuses mainly on the reduction of NO ₂ . Fuel tax can significantly reduce traffic-related CO ₂ emissions, especially if the government combines this measure with other strategies such as differential taxation at the time of purchase. If the introduction of a fuel tax leads to a 10% decrease in CO ₂ emissions, this is calculated to correspond to 2.3% less car use, 6% less _NOx in the city and 7% less emissions of particulate matter in the city. the city. According to the models, the introduction of the updated road tax will lead to a 12% decrease in CO ₂ emissions, 6% less car use, 32% less _NOx in the city and 10% less particulate matter emissions in the city. The authors also found that a combination of a differential purchase tax and an emission-based mileage tax can be expected to have an even greater impact.

More information

• This study provides a brief overview of the impact of different tax programs in a European modeling exercise: A welfare cost assessment of various policy measures to reduce pollutant emissions from passenger road vehicles