Germany’s governing conservatives to propose CO2 pricing model by September

The governing conservative CDU/CSU alliance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel will present a possible model for carbon pricing in the country, Thomas Gutschker writes in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. The CDU’s vice parliamentary group leader, Andreas Jung, said the timing would allow the conservatives’ proposal to be included in the upcoming government deliberations about Germany’s Climate Action Law. “The existing system of surcharges, taxes, support programmes and levies has to be consistently geared towards climate action,” Jung said, adding that the extension of emissions trading to the heating and transport sectors is as much a possibility for the CO2 pricing proposal as are “tax-based incentives,” Gutschke wrote. The conservative politician stressed that Germany had to do all that was necessary to reach its 2030 climate targets but insisted that this must not happen through placing additional financial burdens on citizens.

Chancellor Merkel reportedly said in early June that her government’s climate cabinet would present “radical changes” to Germany’s current climate policy by September, saying that it was time to end the country’s “easy-peasy” stance towards emissions reduction and introduce more effective measures. The chancellor also said that the government had to decide whether to follow a sectoral emission reduction approach or introduce a general pricing scheme for carbon emissions in its bid to get on track towards achieving the 2030 climate targets. A carbon price has been the favoured option for many observers and climate policy experts in Germany, but policymakers are still reluctant to implement it over fears it might lead to backlashes akin to the “yellow vest” protests in France or at least to the alienation of traditional voter groups of the governing parties. Several eastern German coal mining states will head to the polls for regional elections in September and October.