According to estimates by the Federal Statistical Office, domestic taxes charged on fossil fuels in 2023 amounted to 49.5 billion euros. This corresponded to 1.2% of Germany's gross domestic product (GDP).
| Year | Domestic taxation of fossil fuels1 | Tax on fossil fuels as percentage of GDP | Domestic final energy consumption of fossil fuels2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| million euros | % | petajoules | |
| 1: Includes taxes on all fossil fuels on the market in Germany - including petrol and diesel, natural gas and coal - from the environmentally related tax accounts. All revenue from national and European emissions trading is also included. 2: Hard coal and lignite, mineral oils, gases and other fossil fuels as per "Evaluation table 6.1 on the Energy Balance for Germany" provided by the Working Group on Energy Balances (as at February 2025). 3: Provisional data. 4: Revised data. | |||
| 20233 | 49,535 | 1.2 | 5,354 |
| 20224 | 47,277 | 1.2 | 5,643 |
| 20214 | 49,302 | 1.3 | 5,808 |
| 2020 | 38,836 | 1.1 | 5,642 |
| 2019 | 42,116 | 1.2 | 6,157 |
In 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) added taxes on fossil fuels as a new indicator under the "Climate Change" category within the framework of the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB). For Germany, this indicator comprises some of the environmentally related taxes, specifically energy tax and the contribution to the German National Petroleum Stockpiling Agency - minus the biomass component in each case - and all government revenue from national and European emissions trading. In this context, no correction is made for emission-relevant biomass or process-related emissions. The number of allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System that must be surrendered in Germany for national emissions significantly exceeds the amount distributed by the German government on the primary market through auctions and the free allocation of allowances. Revenue received by other countries in connection with emissions in Germany is not taken into consideration.
The other environmentally related taxes, such as aviation tax (which taxes passenger flights) or motor vehicle tax, are not included in the calculation of the indicator. Surcharges and taxes associated with the purchase of electricity - some of which is generated from non-renewable energy sources - are also not taken into account.
While final energy consumption of fossil fuels declined from 6,157 to 5,354 petajoules in the period from 2019 to 2023 (-13.0%), the tax on fossil fuels rose by 17.6% in the same period. This was primarily due to the introduction of national emissions trading from 2021 onwards, and the increase in the price of EU emission allowances on the Leipzig Energy Exchange from an average of 24.65 euros in 2019 to 83.66 euros in 2023. Results for 2020 are largely shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the lower level of taxation in 2022 is primarily due to the reduction of the mineral oil tax on motor fuels (known as the "fuel discount").
Metadata for the IMF indicator are available.