Carbon Taxes in Europe, 2026

Norway currently carries the highest carbon tax rate at €146.23 ($169.71) per ton of carbon emissions, followed by Norway. Sweden (€133.17, $154.55) and Switzerland and Liechtenstein (both €129.09, $149.81). The lowest carbon tax can be found in Poland (€0.09, $0.11) and Ukraine (€0.59, $0.68). The average carbon tax among the 24 European countries was €53.63 until April 1, 2026.

A carbon tax can be levied on a variety of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and natural gas. Each country’s carbon tax rate is different, resulting in different shares of greenhouse gas emissions covered by the tax. For example, Spain’s carbon tax only applies to natural gas, which accounts for 2 percent of the country’s emissions. Albania, Andorra, Liechtenstein, and more Luxembourg, In contrast, it typically accounts for 72 percent or more of their emissions. However, exemptions and reduced rates are often still consistent quality collection na several carbon tax schemes less than that.

All members of the European Union (and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) are part of it EU Trading System (EU ETS)a market created to trade large quantities of natural gas allowances. With the exception of Albania, Andorra, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, all European countries that have a carbon tax are part of the EU ETS. Switzerland has its own ETS, which it has been bound to EU ETS from January 2020. After Brexit, the UK implemented its own UK ETS from January 2021.

In many countries – for example, Andorra, Finland, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, yes Portugal– soil carbon tax baseThe tax base is the total amount of income, property, assets, consumption, transactions, or other economic activities that the tax authority is subject to taxation. A solid tax base is neutral and inefficient. A higher tax base reduces the cost of tax administration and allows for more revenue to be raised at lower rates. comes with a base that is also covered by the EU ETS, causing harm two taxesDouble taxation is when taxes are paid twice on the same dollar of income, regardless of corporate or individual income. I overlapped. When national carbon taxes apply to emissions covered by the ETS, they are change emissions to the sources outside their tax baseleaving total emissions through ETS allowances unchanged.

Some countries use a multi-currency tax or ETS to source carbon at different or transparent tax rates. In these cases, the table below shows the highest value that applies. Essentially, a carbon tax should cover the carbon emissions of all sectors at the same rate.

Many European countries have introduced a carbon tax or ETS in recent years. Germany Same to you Austria implementation of the carbon tax in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Germany is transitioning its carbon tax to a national ETS in 2026, and both systems will expire automatically once ETS-2the main successor to the EU ETS, covers covered sectors. Additionally, Albania and Hungary have implemented a carbon tax in 2022 and 2023, respectively, while Serbia introduced a new carbon tax in 2026. The autonomous region of Catalonia is considering a carbon tax at the national level, too Turkey considers a I failed ETS.