As of: February 23, 2024, 5:46 a.m
By: Michelle Brey
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The climate money is anchored in the coalition agreement of the traffic light parties.
However, not much has happened since 2021.
When will CO₂ price relief become a reality?
Munich – The CO₂ price is rising.
Financial compensation should be achieved through climate money.
But many questions remain unanswered about implementation: When will it happen?
How high is it?
And who actually has a claim to it?
We provide an overview for consumers.
Climate money |
Part of the coalition agreement |
|---|---|
Implementing parties |
SPD, FDP and Greens (traffic light coalition) |
time |
Pending |
What exactly is climate money?
“Energy money”, “climate dividend” or “per capita bonus”: What all parties had set out under various terms in their 2021 election programs developed into “climate money” in the 2021 coalition negotiations.
The SPD, FDP and Alliance 90/The Greens agreed on the instrument in the coalition agreement.
The plan: In order to compensate for an increase in CO₂ prices, the parties wanted to “develop a social compensation mechanism beyond the abolition of the EEG levy (climate money)”.
That's what it says in the coalition agreement.
Since then, the CO₂ price for gasoline, heating oil and gas has increased.
However, reimbursement to citizens in the form of climate money is a long time coming.
CO₂ price increase at a glance – developments since 2021
In 2021, the CO₂ price was introduced for all fossil energy sources.
This made the consumption of raw materials more expensive.
This should contribute to climate protection.
This affects consumers when heating and refueling.
Starting at 25 euros per ton, the price rose to 45 euros per ton on January 1, 2024, the federal government reports on its website.
The development at a glance:
2021: 25 euros per ton
2022: 30 euros per ton
2024: 45 euros per ton
When will climate money be available?
The timing of the payment of climate money is delayed.
The Federal Ministries of Finance and Economic Affairs no longer expect it to be paid out during this legislative period (as of February 2024).
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Citizens could not receive the benefit until 2026 at the earliest, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) told
Welt am Sonntag
.
He promised that at least the necessary payment mechanism would be completed during this legislative period.
There is currently no concrete statement regarding a payout date (as of February 2024).
Who is entitled to climate money?
“The additional income from the rising CO₂ price should flow into a pot from which all citizens receive climate money,” the Greens inform on their website.
“People with large carbon footprints have to pay more.
Since higher emissions often go hand in hand with higher income, climate money particularly supports low-income groups,” it says.
How much is the climate money?
The amount of climate money is initially not known.
In September 2023, the research institute think tank MCC provided information about its own calculations in its paper “Financing the transformation: climate funds, climate money and core budget”.
The think tank MCC presents several perspectives that are based on the financing basis of climate money:
All income from national emissions trading could flow completely into climate money.
This corresponds to 155 euros in 2025 and 260 euros in 2027.
“Only the part that was provided by private households” could be paid out via climate money.
That corresponds to around 116 euros in 2025 and just under 200 euros in 2027.
As a third possibility, the think tank sees the argument that “you first have to deduct the counter-financing of the EEG levy from the total income”.
The amount of climate money would then be 45 euros in 2026 and around 111 euros in 2027.
The CO₂ price for gasoline, heating oil and gas rose at the beginning of 2024.
Consumers are still waiting for climate money.
(Symbolic image) © Wolfgang Maria Weber/Imago/Lobeca/RH/Imago
Calculations by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) put the amount of climate money at 139 euros.
This emerges from a press release from December 2023.
Why does Germany have to be climate neutral by 2045?
The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly clear.
The frequency of extreme weather events is increasing.
“The number of weather-related disasters has increased fivefold over the past 50 years,” said the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
CO₂ emissions make a decisive contribution to this.
The federal government has anchored the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality by 2045 in the Climate Protection Act.
Germany should be climate neutral by then.
According to the federal government, this specifically means: “There must then be a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and their reduction.” The Paris Climate Protection Agreement also played a pioneering role in this goal.
This aims to limit global warming to as little as 1.5 degrees Celsius.
(mbr)