Thursday, October 28, 2021
Leopoldina suggests 100 euros
Higher CO2 prices should bring money to traffic lights
According to the Federal Environment Agency, the Leopoldina President also urges the new government to cut environmentally harmful subsidies. Haug criticizes the three traffic light parties for the fact that a higher CO2 price has not yet been agreed. He himself suggests 100 euros per ton.
The President of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Gerald Haug, urges significantly higher CO2 prices. “Let us ensure that we get a CO2 price of 100 euros per ton quickly,” said Haug to “Spiegel” – currently 25 euros per tonne of CO2 must be paid when trading in diesel, petrol, heating oil and natural gas. At the same time, climate-damaging subsidies should be dismantled in order to increase the financial scope of the new federal government. “Then there is money in the till again,” said Haug. Of this, 50 percent should go to the bottom 30 percent of income earners in order to create social compensation for the higher CO2 pricing. The other half should be invested in sustainable infrastructure, demanded the scientist.
Haug criticized the fact that the SPD, Greens and FDP have not yet commented on the further development of the CO2 price. “That has to change,” he demanded in the “Spiegel”. He emphasized that CO2 pricing is the key national and international instrument for making progress on climate protection.
Transport subsidies under scrutiny
In the new federal government, the Leopoldina President pleaded for both a bundling of competencies in a climate ministry and a climate cabinet in order to coordinate the issues related to the topic under the direction of the Federal Chancellor. It would be the task of the climate ministry to work out “perspectives and details as a forward-thinking institution”. Haug expressed doubts as to whether the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees can still be achieved. “The temperatures on earth are already 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial levels,” he said. He would therefore prefer to speak of the two-degree goal that can still be achieved “because we could still keep it if we really tried hard now.”
In the morning, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) had calculated that the abolition of environmentally harmful subsidies in Germany could open up billions in financial leeway for more climate protection and social justice. According to a UBA study, there were environmentally harmful subsidies totaling at least 65.4 billion euros in Germany in 2018. Of this, 47 percent was attributable to the transport sector alone, 39 percent to the energy sector, 9 percent to agriculture and forestry and around 5 percent to construction and housing.