German government coalition disagrees on CO₂ price

The grand coalition of the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) disagree on the possible introduction of a price on CO₂ emissions in sectors not covered by the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS), write Jakob Schlandt and Nora Marie Zaremba in Tagesspiegel. After environment minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) had indicated support for the idea in a newspaper interview with the Tagesspiegel, members of the governing parties locked horns at a debate in parliament last week. While Schulze said it made little sense to burden electricity with taxes and levies, while not putting a reasonable CO₂ price on fossil energy sources, Christian Democrat finance politician Hermann-Josef Tebroke flat out rejected it: “We say no to a price on CO₂.” Other Conservatives argued that a national carbon price would be “immensely expensive” and put jobs at risk.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the News Digest piece Environment minister urges discussion on CO₂ pricing, the article German environment minister open to national carbon price, and the factsheet Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future.