“Rational climate policy is something different”

The federal government’s “Climate Action Plan 2050" is “a continuation and intensification of a purely national climate policy,” says German economist Joachim Weimann in a guest commentary in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The emissions avoided in Germany – if the current plan were implemented – would simply be used by other countries that are part of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). “Europe would not avoid more CO₂ than without a German solo effort, but at much higher cost,” because international differences in cost to avoid emissions are not being exploited, writes Weimann. He calls for a development of the EU ETS and more investment in technologies to generate energy.