According to a document seen by international news organization Reuters, the European Union is on its way to new measures to help combat climate change through carbon pricing. And according to that document, the government of Germany is among the first onboard to support these measures.
Namely, part of the steps to meet the new climate change goals involve cutting the free carbon permits for airlines. The European Commission is set to come forward with a dozen or so policy propositions next month. And together, these policies aim to speed up the reduction of the EU’s total CO2 emissions so that they can be slashed by some 55% by 2030.
Other measures proposed in the package will also include a CO2 tax on imported goods. But to be implemented, the policies will first require the approval of national governments and the European Parliament.
According to the document, the long-term goal of the changes that are yet to be proposed is a “uniform cross-sector carbon price” for all EU member states.
And Germany has already imposed such taxation on a national level – a carbon dioxide levy of 25 euros per tonne on heating suppliers, as well as on transport fuels.
Not all EU governments are on board with the strategy of enforcing an EU-wide system, and some are actively pushing back against it, as it may raise household fuel bills. With that in mind, additional measures will also be necessary to ensure low-income households and renters are not impacted the most by these reforms.
As for commercial bodies, so far, industry and airlines have been benefiting from some free permits that the carbon market otherwise forces them to buy for polluting the air in the EU. This has helped protect these sectors from sky-rocketing prices this year.
And while Berlin has said it would prolong these free carbon permits, the goal is to phase them out for airlines very soon in order to comply with WTO regulations.
