Saturday May 29th 2021
Climate relief for families
Baerbock quantifies “energy money” for the first time
The parties largely agree that CO2 emissions must be reduced. But how? The Green election program provides for relieving the burden on families. Now Chancellor candidate Baerbock says how high the required “energy money” should be.
Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock wants to moderate higher CO2 prices for people with low incomes through compensation payments. Affected families should receive an “energy money” of 75 euros per head per year, demanded Baerbock at an election campaign event in Magdeburg. The party leader wants to finance the payment from the additional income that the state generates through higher CO2 prices.
CO2 emissions in traffic should cost 60 euros per ton, demanded the Greens. That would correspond to an increase in gasoline prices of around 10 cents per liter. For families with low incomes in rural areas, this could mean an additional burden of up to 100 euros, said Baerbock. The “energy money” could more than make up for that.
Families with small apartments and few cars would benefit in particular. “If I live in a very, very large house and drive a very, very large number of cars, I end up having to pay more.” Saxony-Anhalt will elect a new state parliament on Sunday in a week. During the election campaign, the Greens were often accused by the other parties of underestimating the financial consequences of their climate protection demands for the rural population and low wage earners.
CO2 price currently at 25 euros per ton
The price of CO2 makes burning coal, oil and gas more expensive and is intended to provide incentives to avoid this with economical and clean technology. Critics object that this also applies to consumers with heating or fuel costs who have no influence on the modernization of the heating or who cannot afford a new car.
Instead, the Greens are calling for new regulations to be imposed on the industry, for example for lower CO2 emissions from cars. In Germany there has been a CO2 price since the beginning of the year, it is 25 euros per ton of CO2. In the European Parliament, the Greens recently called for a CO2 price of 150 euros per ton.
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