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The transport sector should save 55 million tonnes of CO2 so that the 2030 climate targets can be met.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, a general speed limit on motorways is an important component.
According to the Kiel economist Ulrich Schmidt, the introduction would also have significant economic costs, one could not speak of an almost free contribution to climate protection.
Even if you take into account that there are fewer traffic fatalities due to the speed limit, it does not pay off economically.
He speaks of "symbol politics".
The idea is ignored that "the slower traffic leads to loss of time and thus costs for the travelers", says the researcher from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) about his study.
Based on the annual mileage on German autobahns assumed by the Federal Environment Agency, he calculated the longer average driving times in accordance with the proposed speed limits - and multiplied the time lost by a standard hourly wage.
Accordingly, taking into account the fuel saved, annual losses of 1.3 billion euros at a speed of 130 - and 7.3 billion euros at a speed of 100 arise.
If you put this in relation to the estimates of the Federal Environment Agency of how much CO2 can be saved through a speed limit, the result is a price of 716 to 1,382 euros per ton of CO2 avoided.
This is therefore a very expensive way of reducing emissions - if the current price for one ton of CO2 in the European emissions trading system is around 25 euros.
"For reasons of climate protection alone, a general speed limit on motorways cannot be justified from a cost-benefit perspective," says Schmidt.
Four million euros for a human life
However, a speed limit can not only save CO2.
It can also save numerous lives from less severe accidents.
Economist Schmidt tried to take this into account by assuming a value for a human life of four million euros already assumed by the Federal Environment Agency in a different context.
Such a morally problematic view is common when weighing risks.
He adds the value of saved lives to the sum of the emissions and fuel saved, but still comes to an economic loss of 990 million euros at a speed of 130 and 6.7 billion euros at a speed of 100. Schmidt concludes: "From economic cost-benefit A general speed limit between 100 and 130 km / h as a measure for climate protection is therefore to be rejected. "
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