Large ships that dock or anchor in Catalan ports (tankers, cruise ships, ferries, container ships) will have to pay a new tax for polluting emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particles. The Government's intention is for its plan to be approved by law in Parliament before the end of the year and for the new levy to be implemented in the second half of 2024. The Generalitat hopes to collect 7.5 million euros from the year.
The tax penalizes the pollution of large ships with one euro per kilogram of NOx or particle emissions and will apply to those with a volume of more than 5,000 tons. The tax is directed especially at large ships that dock or call at Barcelona, Tarragona and Palamós, basically.
Despite this, the Government significantly lowers the claims on the collection. And this is because the initial document has been modified following the allegations presented by several economic sectors, which had considered it excessively expensive. The Government had initially planned to collect 9.72 million euros in the first year, an amount that would increase. However, the amount will ultimately remain fixed during the first three years of application. "The quota, which can be reviewed every three years, has been the result of an attempt to reach a consensus between all the sectors represented in the public information process", said the councilor of Acció Climàtica, David Mascort. Now it remains to be seen how this end is resolved and what the groups think about it in the parliamentary debate on the law.
This is one of the taxes included in the Catalan Climate Change Law (2017), through which the CO2 tax on cars was already introduced. A third party has to tax the industries. "They are taxes that serve to improve people's health", explained Councilor Mascort, who referred to the high incidence of pollution on health. Ship emissions account for 19% of pollutant emissions in the Barcelona area.
Maskort justified the tax on the need to promote "green and sustainable" mobility also in maritime navigation. "We want to accompany the big ships in this energy and mobility transition", he said. The tax is final; the income will endow the fund for atmospheric protection and rational mobility.
On the other hand, bonuses have been established for ships that have a certificate attesting to the energy improvement and reductions are established if the ship is electrified.
The average tax burden per scale that this tax entails is 759 euros. 44% of the scales have a fee lower than 300 euros; 60%, at 500 euros, and 78%, less than 1,000 euros. In Barcelona, 80% of the boats (1,472 boats) will have to present this settlement and in Tarragona, 75% (892). "We are sure that the tax will not generate relocation", said the Climate Action councillor.
