E.ON head Teyssen calls for substantial carbon floor price increase

The price of emitting one tonne of CO₂ in Europe should be at least 25 to 30 euros “for a start”, Johannes Teyssen, head of German utility E.ON, says in an interview with Spiegel Online. Teyssen’s proposed price would be up to four times higher than the current price under the European Emissions Trading System (ETS), which according to him “doesn’t work” due to excessive quantities of emissions granted to European companies. Teyssen argues that the next German government should heed French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal and introduce a carbon floor price in the EU, which “if necessary could initially only be used in a few countries”, such as France, Germany, and the UK. The CEO, who before E.ON’s recent decision to spin off its renewables division and conventional generation into separate companies had been an avid supporter of coal-fired power production, says he has made “misjudgements” about the technological progress of renewable energy sources, and also about “the will in the whole world to invest in them”.

Find the interview in German here (behind paywall).

See the CLEW dossier Utilities and the energy transition for background.