What is it about ?
RNG is a fuel intended for non-road vehicles, such as agricultural and forestry tractors. It is also used for river transport and for machinery in the public works sector. Placed on the market in 2011, following of a European directive intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this fuel was introduced to replace the use of domestic fuel oil, which is more polluting.
Red in color, GNR has similar characteristics to domestic fuel oil, but its composition differs somewhat (lower sulfur content, higher self-ignition capacity, share of biofuels, etc.). According to the French Union of Petroleum Industries, deliveries of GNR rose to 5.26 million cubic meters in the year 2023.
Why are farmers unhappy?
Until now, GNR benefited from lower taxation compared to other fuels. The peasants could also do a partial refund request of the internal consumption tax on energy products (TICPE) for the purchase of RNG. But to encourage consumption of less fossil fuels, the government has planned, for several years, to return to this tax loophole by increasing the TICPE applied to GNR to align it with that of diesel. In 2023, according to the Ministry of the Economy, this tax loophole represented 1.7 billion euros.
But the elimination of this tax advantage, announced in 2018, provoked the anger of the sectors concerned, and has been repeatedly postponed. The government finally enacted it in the 2024 finance law, and accepted, after negotiations with the FNSEA, to spread the gradual elimination of this tax advantage over several years. The revenue recovered by the State must in return finance the ecological transition of farmers.
GNR will thus be taxed at 24.81 euro cents per liter on 1er January 2024, to gradually increase to 54.76 cents per liter in 2030. Concretely, for 2024, with GNR taxed at 24.81 euro cents per liter, farmers will be able to be reimbursed up to 18.1 cents, and will therefore pay 6.71 euro cents per liter upon arrival, compared to 3.86 in 2023. Which represents an increase of 74% per year.
This measure still does not satisfy the agricultural world. The FNSEA pleads for farmers to be able to benefit from immediate reimbursement upon purchase of GNR without having to submit a reimbursement request, while the Rural Coordination continues to oppose categorically to the progressive taxation of GNR. “ The tax measures announced as compensation will only benefit some and are not sufficient », assures the second French agricultural union. And to call for “ implement a cap on GNR at 1 euro per liter for farmers, at least for a certain volume per hectare or per farm “.
These protests were heard. The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, announced on Friday January 26 that he was canceling the increase in the tax on GNR.