Merkel’s CDU party to wait until after European elections with CO2 price decision
dpa
Germany’s main conservative party (CDU) will present its own concept for a CO2 pricing scheme to reach the country’s climate targets in a few weeks - but not before the European elections, the party’s general secretary Paul Ziemiak said after a party meeting. “We want market instruments to reduce emissions,” Ziemiak said, according to a . It would be wrong to simply raise the price for petrol and the consumer shouldn’t bear the burden alone, he said.
that a national CO2 price would put an additional burden on companies and people, while its climate benefits were doubtable.
CDU state premier that he didn’t believe a CO2 price would be implemented within the current legislative period, i.e. by 2021.
After shying away from the debate for a long time, the governing parties and Chancellor Angela Merkel herself have recently announced a willingness to look into CO2 pricing as a means of reaching Germany’s 2030 climate targets. There are many ways a price on carbon could be implemented, and different stakeholders favour different models, such as a cap-and-trade approach or a carbon tax. Several ministries have commissioned studies to define the design of such a scheme. Last week, politicians started to pitch ideas for the design of CO₂ pricing in Germany and the government’s climate cabinet is to discuss the subject in July.
