Contents page 1 — CO2 is the best and pay the money to the citizens page 2 — New revenue the objective is not to tax at all – but the protection of the environment On a page
read the final report of the coal Commission on the coal phaseout, Germany has a Plan. He States to be reduced as the emissions from electricity production far-reaching. However, in order to reach the climate goals are also in progress in the transport and in the insulation of buildings is necessary. The coal Commission therefore calls for an energy tax reform. She writes, the Federal government should consider a price for CO2 “steering effect” also for sectors outside the EU emissions trading scheme.
such A price for CO2 is controversial, but experience from other countries show that There are ways to make him socially acceptable, write the climate scientist Brigitte Knopf and the climate economist Matthias Kalkuhl. Your contribution is based on the Chapter on financial reform in the UN Emissions Gap Report, both as lead authors were involved.
climate protection CO2-price
Economists need has long been clear: Effective climate protection award requires a CO2. The policy is not afraid of nothing more, than to increase energy prices. Because if energy is more expensive, then that meets the low-income citizens to be particularly strong – and what consequences this can have, especially in France. There is since weeks, and sometimes violent protests that inflamed the rising gasoline prices.
Also here in Germany prices from rising gasoline and heating Oil – and similar protests – warned, after environment Minister Svenja Schulze for the introduction of a CO2-pleaded price. Is doomed the plan to Failure because of the associated political risks are too great?
is A basic problem of the price of CO2, this applies to Germany and France and many other countries, households and businesses are charged on a very different scale. It follows from this that climate policy can only be successful if cases of hardship are to be avoided and the economic inequality is not increasing by even more.
to achieve this, the governments of the disadvantages of a CO2 price for citizens and businesses to compensate for sense. This can be done through financial grants, public investment, tax reduction or temporary exception to the rules. Although many of these measures cost money, but the revenue from the CO2 pricing with 0.5 to 6 percent of gross domestic product can be, depending on the country and the amount considerably, as the recently published UNEP Emissions Gap Report estimates.
The report shows particularly successful examples from which Germany could learn:
money for the citizens of
In Switzerland, returned parts of the revenue from the CO2 tax directly to the citizens – in the year 2018, everyone got about 80 Euro paid. Some provinces in Canada do the same. The especially oil – and coal-rich canadian province of Alberta, however, the revenue to invest selectively in projects to improve the infrastructure of public transport and energy efficiency, and thus supports the structural change to a sustainable economy. Emerging countries such as India and Colombia, have significantly lower tax rates on CO2 or fossil fuels, but even here, parts of the revenue for environmental projects and clean energy projects.
went A completely different way of Sweden, which has, since 1991 a tax on CO2, and with a height of 120 euros per Tonne of the world’s top riders. The revenue from the tax directly to the government budget. As a result, other taxes, particularly the income tax were for low-income earners, are greatly reduced. The country has seen since the high economic growth rates accompanied by a reduction in emissions, and shows that both variables can indeed decouple.
It’s not just about financial compensation, but it also depends on political and psychological factors. Whether the public will accept a CO2-price will depend, for example, whether they trust the government more generally, whether the policy communicates its Reform is open, and whether the individual follow-up time sent to each other.
