“Greenflation”: Climate protection can also be seen in the inflation rate

For the first time in history, a liter of diesel costs more than 1.60 euros on average in Germany.

The ADAC car club pointed this out in its weekly analysis of petrol prices.

The main reason is the increased price of crude oil.

Brent crude oil from the North Sea had already reached its highest level in seven years at $88 a barrel (159 liters) on Tuesday - but rose again to more than $89 on Wednesday.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in Business.

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Expensive oil and petrol also play an important role in the highest inflation in Germany for almost 30 years.

The Federal Statistical Office confirmed its estimate of the extraordinarily high inflation rate of 5.3 percent for Germany in December - and published details.

For 2021 as a whole, inflation in Germany was 3.1 percent.

Half a percentage point more

The economist Holger Schmieding has calculated that about half a percentage point of this is due to "greenflation", i.e. the direct consequences of climate and environmental policy.

This includes the CO2 price on heating and fuels introduced at the beginning of 2021 and the consequences of the scarcer certificates in emissions trading.

However, the definition is extremely narrow.

The price increase in December was particularly strong over the year for heating oil at 61 percent and for fuel at 33.8 percent.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were three reasons for this: Crude oil on the global markets, which was exceptionally cheap last year due to the pandemic, has become much more expensive in euros than in dollars.

Added to this, with a smaller share, was the CO2 price.

In addition, VAT was higher than in the same month last year.

Flour and grain products are 14.5 percent more expensive

Food has also become much more expensive, by 6 percent.

The Federal Statistical Office emphasizes that this is not a consequence of the increased demand for organic food.

Only products of the same quality group are compared.

At best, such developments would become noticeable in the longer term if the composition of the sample and the weightings were adjusted to consumer behavior.

The supermarkets have apparently raised prices across the board.

Butter rose particularly sharply, by 16.9 percent.

The price of flour and other grain products rose by an average of 14.5 percent.

Poultry meat rose in price by 10.5 percent and potatoes by 13.7 percent.

Vegetables became 9.9 percent more expensive on average.

The price of meat and meat products increased by 5.3 percent.

Fruit rose in price by 2.7 percent.

Cars have also become significantly more expensive. Prices for new cars including mobile homes increased by 7 percent. Strong demand for mobile homes, but also supply bottlenecks and price increases for primary products could play a role here. Used cars rose in price by 11.7 percent. "This is a similar development as in the USA, just not quite as extreme," said economist Karsten Junius. For cars, too, the Federal Statistical Office emphasizes that the price increase is not the result of increased purchases of electric vehicles. The prices of electric cars would be taken into account in the statistics. However, only combustion engines were compared with combustion engines and electric cars with electric cars. In the longer term, however, the shopping basket will be adjusted if the number of consumers who buy electric cars increases.