Doing business in a less carbon-intensive way will in many cases mean higher costs, at least during a period of transition to new technologies. Tuesday’s budget was all about sending this message out, with any government cushioning reserved for those households and counties most directly hit. Budget 2020 headlines focus on the carbon tax increase on fossil fuels from €20/t to €26/t of carbon dioxide emitted, so let’s get this one out of the way first. As expected, the hike adds 2c/l to the price of petrol and diesel, with coal, peat briquettes, heating oil and gas to follow next…

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