Calls to protect climate fund over fuel duty cut

A temporary cut on fuel duty in Jersey should not affect funding for projects tackling climate change, a politician has challenged.

An amendment has been put forward by Deputy Hilary Jeune to Deputy Lucy Stephenson's proposal to reduce duty on petrol and diesel for three months to help islanders with the cost of living.

The plan is set to be debated in September and if approved islanders could see a 10p a litre reduction from 1 October to 31 December, which Stephenson said could save the average family £5 each time they filled up.

But Jeune wanted to ensure the reduction would not affect funding for the Climate Emergency Fund, which comes from fuel tax.

Jeune said the duty had made up £15.57m of the £21.93m fund since its creation in 2020.

She said: "If excise duty on fuel is reduced and nothing is done to protect that transfer, the fund's income falls automatically, without the assembly ever debating whether that's the right call.

"This amendment simply asks the minister to keep those two decisions separate."

Jeune added: "This amendment does not change the reduction in fuel duty proposed by the proposition, which equates to just over £900,000 in reduced revenues for three months.

"It will remain for [the] Minister to decide how to accommodate the reduced income considering the detailed figures they will have available on the GST offset."

The deputy said the fund was "a head start" against the issues Jersey is facing against climate change.

She said: "I am asking to protect it because of what it has been used for and could be used for: local trade jobs, lower household energy bills, and practical protection against the costs the Island will face from more extreme weather.

"Whatever your view on climate targets, there is a genuine economic and cost-of-living case here."

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