Merkel’s CDU party to wait until after European elections with CO2 price decision

Germany’s main conservative party (CDU)  will present its own concept for a CO2 pricing scheme to reach the country’s climate targets in a few weeks - but not before the European elections, the party’s general secretary Paul Ziemiak said after a party meeting. “We want market instruments to reduce emissions,” Ziemiak said, according to a report by dpa carried by Focus Online. It would be wrong to simply raise the price for petrol and the consumer shouldn’t bear the burden alone, he said.
Carsten Linnemann, of the CDU’s business-friendly wing, said that a national CO2 price would put an additional burden on companies and people, while its climate benefits were doubtable.
CDU state premier Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia said that he didn’t believe a CO2 price would be implemented within the current legislative period, i.e. by 2021.

After shying away from the debate for a long time, the governing parties and Chancellor Angela Merkel herself have recently announced a willingness to look into CO2 pricing as a means of reaching Germany’s 2030 climate targets. There are many ways a price on carbon could be implemented, and different stakeholders favour different models, such as a cap-and-trade approach or a carbon tax. Several ministries have commissioned studies to define the design of such a scheme. Last week, politicians started to pitch ideas for the design of CO₂ pricing in Germany and the government’s climate cabinet is to discuss the subject in July.