The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has recently released plans for a new carbon tax which is aimed at reducing the effects of global warming. The tax will be introduced next year and will apply to the use of oil, gas and coal.

The new tax will be 17 euros (around 30 dollars) per tonne of emitted carbon dioxide. It will be phased in gradually and will apply to households as well as businesses, but not to the heavy industries and power firms included in the EU’s emissions trading plan.

France’s Le Monde newspaper says the tax will cover 70% of the country’s carbon emissions and bring in about 4.3billion euros (almost 8 billion dollars) of revenue annually.