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Demonstration for the introduction of climate money
Photo: Hans-Jürgen Serwe / IMAGO
The traffic light had actually already agreed on the introduction of climate money in the coalition agreement - but the project has not really gotten off the ground so far.
The idea behind the concept: The income from the introduced CO₂ pricing should actually be distributed back to the population at the end of a year, for example in the form of a lump sum.
According to economists, the CO₂ price is not intended to generate additional tax revenue for the state, but rather to create incentives to use less fossil fuels.
The income from this should be distributed to citizens so that they are not additionally burdened despite the CO₂ tax.
This would also strengthen political support for more climate protection among the population.
So much for the theory.
In practice, this mechanism is unpopular in German politics, across party lines.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has just announced that climate money will not be implemented until after the next federal election.
Now SPD parliamentary group deputy Matthias Miersch is distancing himself from flat-rate climate money for everyone.
Miersch told the Berliner Tagesspiegel that he found “the suggestion of a per capita payment as sole compensation for an ever-higher CO₂ price wrong.”
»Why should a millionaire receive a climate money payout?
The burdens vary greatly across the country,” said Miersch, explaining his opinion.
Rich people are automatically burdened more heavily by CO₂ prices
To date, all citizens should receive a uniform amount per person to compensate for the burden of CO₂ pricing.
Amounts between 100 and 150 euros per year are being discussed to get started.
Miersch now pointed out that there are already reliefs, especially due to the elimination of the EEG surcharge for electricity prices.
For additional compensation, the SPD politician proposed a socially graduated payment only for households with small or medium incomes from 2025.
"Possible indicators could be income and distance to work," he said.
Rich citizens will be burdened significantly more by CO₂ pricing anyway - even if they would receive the same amount of climate money as an unemployed person.
The reason for this lies in consumer behavior: wealthy people fly more, travel longer distances and live in larger properties that use more energy.
This connection is generally seen with rising incomes (you can find out more here).
However, Miersch also generally opposed the idea of achieving climate neutrality through ever higher CO₂ prices.
"Then the prices at the gas stations will soon explode," he warned and spoke of "a neoliberal solution."
The problem with this argument: If CO₂ prices do not make fossil fuels more expensive, their consumption remains high.
Reductions in emissions must then be achieved through bans and/or extensive funding for more climate-friendly technologies.
Social and environmental associations, the Greens, and also parts of the SPD have been pushing for climate money for weeks.
The FDP has also recently shown itself to be open to this.
The Federal Ministry of Finance is currently preparing a mechanism to enable direct federal payments to citizens.
beb/dpa