By ALESSANDRO TORELLO | Wall Street Journal | Link to article
BRUSSELS—The European Union next week will propose taxing transport and heating fuels according to their greenhouse-gas emissions as well as their energy content, introducing a climate-change component in EU tax rules for the first time, after years of negotiations.
The European Commission, which has executive powers in the European Union, will propose a minimum rate of €20 ($29) a metric ton of CO2 emitted by products like gasoline, diesel, natural gas and coal starting in 2013, a draft document obtained by Dow Jones Newswires shows.
According to the document—which is the draft revision of an existing law on taxation of energy products, and might still change before being made public Wednesday—the commission will also propose a gradual increase of a minimum levy on diesel to bring it to the same as that on gasoline by 2018.
