The so-called “Carbon Budget” delivered on 6 December seems to have no announcements from a tax perspective of particular significance over those of the Minister for Finance on the previous day.

The documentation from the Department of the Environment identifies as the main topics the following items:

• Minimum energy efficiency standards for light bulbs, meaning an end to traditional inefficient light bulbs from 2009.
• New emissions based system for motor tax with significant savings for new low emission vehicle cars.
• A mandatory environment labelling system for new cars.