Is it coming, isn’t it coming?
The government still wants to decide on climate money
January 17, 2024, 3:08 p.m
After some back and forth, the government wants to make a decision on climate money next year. A per capita payment will be possible at the end of 2025 at the earliest. According to a media report, the FDP parliamentary group wants to introduce climate money then.
In the debate about climate money as social compensation for higher CO2 prices, the federal government has promised a decision next year. In Berlin, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit referred to statements by Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the FDP, according to which the technical requirements for a per capita payment would probably be created by the end of the year. “And then the mechanism would be available. And everything else is a decision that you have to make,” said Hebestreit.
Hebestreit referred to the budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, as a result of which the federal government had already put together a controversial austerity package. “Then you have to decide in the budget where this money should come from,” he said in reference to climate money. On behalf of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Hebestreit simply said that the possible payment mechanism should now be launched “with the necessary speed”. With 82 million potential holders of a tax identification number, the necessary link to an account is not a trivial undertaking.
Lindner said in an interview that a per capita payout would technically be possible from 2025. However, he rejected the actual introduction of climate money in this election period: “Whether we politically restructure the funding landscape in this direction will have to be decided after the next election.” Hebestreit had said that climate money should be introduced by 2027 at the latest.
In response to the statements, the Greens and the SPD pushed for faster social compensation for higher CO2 prices. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert brought up possible tax discounts or a long-distance commuter allowance as an alternative to climate money. The parliamentary manager of the Green parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, said that her group had “absolutely no understanding” of postponing climate money until the coming legislative period.
According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, the FDP parliamentary group wants to introduce climate money as early as 2025. The payout amount should initially be just under 100 euros per capita, FDP parliamentary group deputy Lukas Köhler told the newspaper. In the following years the amount would increase significantly again. Köhler referred to concrete suggestions from his group as to how the 7.31 billion euros needed could be raised. Among other things, subsidies to promote chip production, e-mobility and decarbonization for the industry should be eliminated.