Special tax proposed for mopeds

The Danish Environmental Assessment Institute (IMV) is proposing that mopeds should be subject to a special environmental tax. There are about 160,000 mopeds in Denmark with engine ratings of up to 50cc. They generally have two-stroke engines that release a great deal of poisonous exhaust - especially hydrocarbons and particles.

According to the IMV, hydrocarbon emissions from mopeds are about 15 times greater per rider-kilometre than those per cars. Mopeds also account for about 1 percent of all road-traffic particle emissions in Denmark.

Nor is moped fuel efficiency especially remarkable. Considering that a car carries on average 1.6 persons, and a moped only one, the rates of fuel consumption are largely comparable, assuming that the car is a fairly new model and reasonably fuel-efficient. Mopeds also rank high in accident statistics.

Per Elvingson
Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain <www.acidrain.org>

More information on the Danish IMV assessment could be found in <www.imv.dk>