Tenerife is set to become the first of the Canary Islands to invoke permission granted by the regional government to levy what has been colloquially dubbed a “forest tax” to help pay for environmental projects.
The levy will see 0.02 euros added to the price of a litre of petrol and diesel. Although no date has been announced for its introduction, reports suggest this is unlikely to be before the end of September.
The Tenerife Cabildo hopes to raise 10 million euros to fund reforestation, wildfire prevention and forestry conservation programmes, particularly in the island’s most degraded and sensitive.
The possibility of the fuel levy was included in the regional Budget for 2025, with the decision to harness the possibility left to the different island governments. Tenerife is the first to publicly announce its intention to apply the levy but Gran Canaria is expected to follow its lead after the summer.
The measure will only affect fuel for private vehicles given that goods vehicle and public transport are exempt.
Cabildo president Rosa Dávila insists the levy is not simply to generate more local revenue but to secure targeted funding for important environmental projects, although she acknowledged that private car use should be discouraged where possible in the Islands, which already have a very high number of vehicles.
Even with the increase, thanks to the more favourable tax/excise duty provisions applicable in the Canaries – including the region’s much lower IGIC tax compared to mainland Spain’s VAT – fuel prices are considerably lower than in the rest of Spain, where a litre can cost up to 0.4 euros more than in the Islands.
