Environmental tax revenue in the European Union increased by 6.1 per cent in 2024, while Cyprus collected a total of €718.72 million during that time, according to figures released by Eurostat.

The data showed that Cyprus households accounted for €355.46m of the country’s environmental tax revenue during 2024, while non-residents contributed €35.08m.

Overall, environmental tax revenue in the EU reached €371.9 billion in 2024, up from €350.4 billion in 2023, representing an increase of €21.4 billion, or 6.1 per cent.

Despite the higher revenue, the importance of environmental taxes within the wider economy continued to decline over the longer term.

Eurostat said that environmental taxes accounted for 2.1 per cent of EU gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, down from 2.5 per cent in 2014.

Over the same period, environmental tax revenue as a share of total government revenue from taxes and social contributions fell from 6.1 per cent to 5.1 per cent.

Energy taxes remained by far the largest source of environmental tax revenue across the bloc, generating €287.0bn in 2024, compared with €269.3bn the previous year.

Transport taxes were the second largest category, rising to €67.0bn in 2024 from €64.0bn in 2023.

Meanwhile, taxes on pollution and the use of natural resources generated €17.9bn, up from €17.2bn a year earlier.

Across the EU, environmental tax revenues increased in 22 member states during 2024.

Romania recorded the strongest annual increase, with environmental tax revenue rising by 21.7 per cent.

It was followed by Lithuania, where revenues increased by 13.9 per cent, and Poland, which recorded growth of 12.7 per cent.

Hungary was also among the strongest performers, posting an increase of 12.2 per cent.

By contrast, five member states recorded declines in environmental tax revenue compared with 2023.

Sweden experienced the sharpest fall, with revenues decreasing by 17.7 per cent.

This was followed by Slovakia, where revenue fell by 6.1 per cent, Finland with a decline of 3.8 per cent, Greece with a fall of 3.7 per cent, and Bulgaria, where environmental tax revenue decreased by 2.3 per cent.

For Cyprus, total environmental tax revenue across all economic activities, households, non-residents and unallocated categories amounted to €718.72m in 2024, according to the Eurostat dataset.