Group urges more EU countries to support windfall tax on oil profits – EnviroNews

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As finance ministers’ clamour for a European Union-wide windfall tax on oil profits grows, environmental campaign group, 350.org, has urged more EU countries to pledge support, saying that the measure can immediately provide economic relief to millions of households, amid skyrocketing costs of living due to deadly heat and still elevated oil and gas prices.

This week, finance ministers from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria urged the EU presidency to discuss a proposal for a EU-wide windfall tax on oil companies, at the next EU finance ​ministers’ meeting in Dublin in mid-September. The ministers are calling on the EU to enact a measure similar to the 2022 windfall tax on EU fossil fuel companies’ profits during the Russia-Ukraine war while addressing some of the shortcomings observed back then. This time, ministers are also seeking ways on how to include “foreign profits of multinational oil companies.”

The world’s eight largest oil companies made $93 billion in profits in the second quarter of the year alone, with some of them posting their biggest earnings in years while millions of people, including in Europe, just experienced first-hand some of the most devastating impacts of a crisis fuelled by fossil fuel giants.  

Fanny Petitbon, 350.org France Manager, said: “The momentum is growing. Six finance ministers have just sent an important signal that EU leaders can’t afford to ignore, a signal that comes straight out of this summer’s heatwaves and wildfires. When your own citizens are choking on smoke and rationing water, taxing oil profits stops being a policy option and starts being common sense.

“With tensions escalating again between the US and Iran, our leaders have no excuse for inaction. They can’t let a handful of companies continue to cash it big while many households are barely recovering from this summer or can’t pay their bills. Europeans need urgent relief from heat stress, wildfires, and soaring costs of living. There’s no better time for EU governments to show that people matter more than profits.”