Time to pay for emissions

TOLL charges in Europe are set to change to reflect the level of pollution that vehicles produce. The European Commission is proposing making cars, trucks and vans pay higher if they emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint on the roads.

In order to convince drivers that this is not a ploy to collect more taxes from toll road users, the proposal promises to keep the average level of tolls roughly the same with cleaner cars paying less.

However, the European automakers’ association said it supported varied toll charges but wanted other factors to be considered such as the weight of the vehicles and aerodynamics. The association believes that these rules should make road haulers more efficient as they encourage the renewal of fleets in order to reduce costs.

For now, the EU is leaving road tolls imposed on private cars to national governments. The proposals would not force countries to introduce road toll charging schemes for cars but will lay down principles that should be adhered to by countries introducing such schemes.

The proposals are likely to be published at the end of this month, after which they will need the approval of the European Parliament and of the member states.

Britain has already changed its annual taxation rules based on the size of a vehicles’ engine and carbon emission with electric vehicles paying nothing. However, the British system does not take into consideration the distance traveled by each vehicle. Some are calling for abolishing the “Road Tax” in favor of paying extra levies on fuel sales for the tax to be more equitable.

One thing is clear: There is a price to pay for polluting the air and certainly sooner or later similar measures will be taken in the Middle East as well. Adel Murad is a senior motoring and business journalist based in London.