The government through Parliament has repealed the Emissions Levy Bill, 2025 in line with government promises contained in the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy presented to Parliament a few days ago by the Finance Minister.
The Bill contains two clauses with Clause 1 to repeal the Emissions Levy Act, 2023 (Act 1112) and Clause 2 has to do with a savings clause.
The rationale for the Bill in the Finance Committee’s report presented by Isaac Adongo observed that the Government enacted the Emissions Levy Act, 2023 (Act 1112) to impose the Emissions Levy on carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from specified internal combustion engine vehicle emissions however, the levy had raised some concern among the citizenry.
He said the Minister indicated that due to concerns raised, the Government has planned to repeal the Act, -“the repeal of the levy would enable Government to re-engage stakeholders on environmental reforms and the engagement would allow Government to comprehensively tackle carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from specific sectors and promote the use of eco-friendly technology and green energy”.
On Fiscal Impact Analysis, the Committee observed that the levy was not implemented and therefore no revenue had accrued from the levy.
The Committee was informed that, if the levy had previously been implemented, the repeal would result in a revenue loss of GHC386.36 million.
Background
The Emissions Levy (Repeal) Bill, 2025 was presented to Parliament by the Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, in accordance with Article 174 of the 1992 Constitution and read for the first time on Thursday, 13th March 2025.
Subsequently, the Bill was referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report in accordance with Article 106(4) of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Order 226 of Parliament.