Revenue raised to tackle climate change has gone unspent or diverted back to the exchequer, new figures have revealed.

For every litre of petrol purchased, two cents goes to the National Oil Reserve Agency; much of this money is then transferred to the Climate Action Fund. 

In theory, this money is then used to finance projects that will cut Ireland’s carbon footprint - such as school solar panels or EV chargers. 

However, in reality, 70% of the revenue raised has gone unspent. 

“They've collected over €500 million in that levy in the last since 2020 and up to 2024,” Irish Independent journalist Aisling Moloney told The Claire Byrne Show. 

“Analysis that we did on the financial statements shows that the Climate Action Fund had €278 million sitting in its bank account at the end of 2024.” 

A house with solar panels on the roof. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Figures for 2025 have not yet been published, but the fund had a surplus every year between 2020 and 2024. 

That figure is set to drop this year, following the Government’s decision to cut the 2c levy to one tenth of a cent as part of its package of measures to cut the cost of fuel. 

Revenue raised from the carbon tax is also meant to be ringfenced for measures that will reduce planet warming emissions. 

However, much of that has also gone unspent. 

“We learned recently that €250 million of that has not been spent - and it went back to the exchequer,” Ms Moloney said. 

“So, we see there the taxes that we are being told we're paying to fund climate action measures; half of it went back to the exchequer and half has been sitting there unspent.” 

An EV wall charger. Picture by: Alamy.com.

The figures come at a time when the State is struggling to meet EU climate targets, with the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council warning Ireland is likely to incur “severe” fines. 

“People who have been paying these taxes on their fuel over the last number of years, I suppose, in good faith that they were going to climate action measures,” Ms Moloney said. 

“[They] may be disappointed to hear that they're either being put back into the government exchequer fund overall or they're sitting there waiting to be administered and not yet spent.”

Main image: A wind farm. Picture by: Eamonn Farrell/ RollingNews.ie.