Lithuanian president signs into law package on 'green' fuel excise duties

VILNIUS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has signed into law amendments which will increase excise duties on polluting fuels, introduce additional pollution taxes and scrap exemptions, but will not restrict the use of cheaper diesel by farmers, Ridas Jasiulionis, his advisor, told BNS on Friday. 

The amendments to the Law on Excise Duty also call for gradually raising the excise duty on diesel to the same level as that on gasoline, thus encouraging the choice of less polluting fuels. 

The parliament passed the amendments to the Excise Duty Law, tabled back in 2021, last week.

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte then said that taxing polluting fuels should improve the environmental pollution situation, especially in transport, where CO2 emissions have been rising since 2005.  

The opposition warned, however, that "green" excise duties would affect both people and the economy, saying that higher taxes would push up prices, but would not help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.