Joint letter: Fossil fuel profit taxation

Along with more than 30 organisations, we are urging the Irish EU Presidency  to put the issue of fossil fuel profit taxation on the agenda of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting, which is happening today and tomorrow. 

Read the joint letter

As people in Europe face extreme climate impacts and cost-of-living pressures in the second fossil fuel crisis in four years, while fossil fuel companies have accumulated huge profits, it is time to adopt a fair tax framework that contributes to the energy transition and raises the urgently needed resources to support households, firms and public budgets, including for international climate finance. 

There is very broad public support across the whole European Union for a European tax framework on fossil fuel profits, and the tremendous human, economic, financial and environmental costs of climate change on citizens and public budgets require strong action. 

Profits of the fossil fuel industry have been colossal over the last years - fossil fuel companies made an estimated €82 billion in post-tax profits from their EU operations in 2023. Just eight major oil companies have made €7.5 billion of additional profits in Europe in the first half of 2026, compared to a similar period the previous year.