European Environment Agency's home page

Write to us

For the public:

For media and journalists:

Contact EEA staff

Contact the web team

FAQ

Internalisation of external costs (TERM 026) - Assessment published Jan 2011: There has been some progress in restructuring transport charges towards better internalisation of external costs though this has been slow. Urban (congestion) charging schemes and distance related charging are expanding, and several countries have modified or introduced vehicle charges. Environmentally-weighted passenger vehicle related taxes are also growing in popularity (excluding petrol/diesel tax). Further, the Eurovignette directive - which aims to ensure road usage better reflects its true social impact by proposing a "user pays" and a "polluter pays" principle for heavy lorries in Europe - was sent to parliament on 15th October 2010. The differentiation of user charges has in the past been structured around air pollution in the road freight sector, noise in the aviation sector and CO2 emissions for passenger cars. However, there is a growing trend for CO2 based differentiation of user charge across all modes, such as aviation becoming included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and CO2 regulations (already in place for cars) are being planned for vans and are likely also for HGVs in the future. Tax breaks for low-sulphur fuel are slowly disappearing as its use becomes more common and mandatory standards are imposed (for example <10ppm sulphur petrol and diesel road fuel has been mandatory since 2009) under the amended Fuel Quality Directive (98/70/EC). At the same time reduced excise on biofuel, LPG, CDG and ethanol is being more widely applied in Europe. Many countries have already adopted regulations for reduced car sales duties and road tax for electric vehicles, hybrids and hydrogen vehicles.
Located in Data and maps › Indicators › Internalisation of external costs
Implementation of internalisation instruments: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Implementation of internalisation instruments: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Progress in charge structure and internalisation policies: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Progress in charge structure and internalisation policies: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Progress in charge structure and internalisation policies: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Progress in charge structures and internalisation policies: Located in Data and maps › Indicators
Questionnaire results for TERM026 indicator "Internalization measures for transport environmental costs": The questionnaire was designed to facilitate information collection from EEA member states for one TERM indicator selected for the update in 2010 and not covered by regular Eurostat dataflow: “Internalization measures for transport environmental costs” (TERM 26).
Located in Data and maps › Datasets
TERM26 Overview of all non-fuel related charges and internalisation policies in EEA-32: Overview of all non-fuel related charges and internalisation policies in EEA-32
Located in Data and maps › Maps and graphs