Everyone is talking about the idea of bringing ecology and economy together.
New technologies should protect the environment and at the same time allow the economy to grow - at least in theory that sounds good.
The Greens saw it differently for a long time, their view of the economy was marked by mistrust.
Annalena Baerbock, the green candidate for chancellor, thinks that her party has been of the opinion for too long that "we are responsible for the clear edge, the implementation must be done by others".
This is how she writes it in her book “Jetzt.
How we renew our country ”, which she presented on Thursday in Berlin.
Now it is offering the economy a pact.
Helene Bubrowski
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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Hendrik Kafsack
Business correspondent in Brussels.
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Baerbock had already mentioned the idea at the party conference on the weekend.
"It's about a binding agreement that the state will compensate companies for the additional costs they have to pay if they become climate-neutral, Made in Germany." Many companies are already on this path, but in some cases investments that " clean and for the good of all "are blocked by political rules, said Baerbock and named as an example the tax advantages when buying expensive, high-consumption company cars.
Offers to the economy
In a five-page position paper that is available to the FAZ, she specifies her ideas. "In the future, it will not be enough to 'just' develop the best cars, the best power plants or the best robots in the traditional sense," she writes. “What is central to inventions, new products and services is what contribution they make on the way to climate neutrality.” This is a great opportunity for Germany to gain competitive advantages through decisive action and to set standards. It is not enough to “wish the industry the best of luck on its journey”. The federal government must support them with an active industrial policy.
This is where the pact between industry and politics comes into play: It is intended to give companies, especially those in CO2-intensive sectors, the necessary planning security so that they can switch to climate-neutral production. So-called climate protection contracts are to be a central component. They are intended to help offset the additional costs that companies incur as a result of the conversion from conventional processes. "In addition, a fixed price is guaranteed, with which measures to reduce CO2 emissions above the current price in European emissions trading are rewarded," says the paper. “Because the true ecological price is currently not shown.” This would put climate-friendly investments at a disadvantage.
The climate protection agreements, also known as “Carbon Contracts for Difference”, are aimed at sectors such as metal production, the chemical industry or the manufacturers of building materials.
For them, the current price for CO2 emission certificates of around 50 euros per ton is too low to provide an incentive to switch production;
because the costs for it are significantly higher.
It is true that the number of emission rights will continue to fall due to the stricter EU climate targets and thus the price will rise.
However, it will take a while before it is so high that the changeover is worthwhile even for CO2-intensive industries.
That could be too late for the German goal of being climate neutral by 2045, because many industrial plants run for 30 years or more.
The federal government is working on it
That is why the state should conclude long-term contracts with companies - Baerbock speaks of 15 to 20 years - in which he promises to cover all additional costs that go beyond the current price for CO2 certificates in EU emissions trading. Baerbock calculates this using the example of steel production: If a company has CO2 avoidance costs of 100 euros per tonne of steel (i.e. if it uses green hydrogen for production instead of conventional coal energy and thus lowers CO2 emissions), the CO2 emissions trading price does is only 60 euros, the conversion is not worthwhile for the company. It's cheaper to pay the 60 euros.
That changes the moment the state guarantees the company in a climate protection contract that it will assume all costs up to the threshold of 100 euros that exceed 60 euros.
Then the company can switch production immediately without being at a competitive disadvantage because of the additional costs.
The higher the CO2 price in emissions trading rises, the lower the state subsidies.
Baerbock therefore speaks of a "breathing financing mechanism".
If the price later rises above the threshold price of 100 euros, the companies even have to pay money back to the state.
In short: the state subsidizes the investments and the higher operating costs.
Baerbock wants to finance this through budget funds from the energy and climate fund.
The idea itself is not new, it has been propagated by experts for a long time. Baerbock said in her speech at the party congress that her ideas were “a different attitude than the previous economic policy”, but in fact the federal government is already working on it, the Federal Ministry of Economics has launched pilot projects. In the end, the decisive factor is likely to be how much money the state provides for the climate protection agreements. Baerbock does not give any figures on this in the paper, but she had already spoken of billions in the Handelsblatt. Baerbock wants to supplement the approach with a CO2 border adjustment to compensate for the disadvantages that European companies have in international competition due to the higher climate targets. The European Commission is already working on a proposal for this.