Federal Environment Agency insists on huge special fund for climate protection
The energy and industrial transformation will cost a lot of money. To cope with this, the head of the Federal Environment Agency proposes setting up an additional financial pot worth billions. He also has a solution for the current gap in the budget.
To ensure investment in climate protection, the head of the Federal Environment Agency, Dirk Messner, is calling for a special fund worth billions. "What we need is a special fund for the expansion of our digital infrastructure and climate protection," Messner told Handelsblatt. The two are connected. He was thinking of a figure of "50 billion plus X", added Messner.
As with the special fund for the Bundeswehr, the opposition parties CDU and CSU would have to be involved. "This would also reflect the democratic consensus for this major project and ensure certainty of expectations among citizens and the economy," emphasized the President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
As a consequence of the budget ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which declared certain special funds in addition to the regular budget inadmissible and created a gap of billions, Messner spoke out in favor of raising the CO2 price. This "should rise to 50 euros" in the coming year, he demanded. So far, the price for emitting the climate-damaging gas is set to rise from 30 to 40 euros at the turn of the year.
Considering relief for citizens
According to the German government, an additional 1.3 billion euros will flow into the state coffers as a result of the higher CO2 price increase for heating and refueling. In this context, Messner called for the rapid introduction of a "climate money" to relieve the burden on citizens in the event of rising CO2 prices. "Citizens should be clearly promised when the climate money will be introduced," the UBA head told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
Many things are now being put to the test and should be brought up to "new German speed", Messner added. "The acceleration of climate money should be part of this. People with a low "greenhouse gas footprint" would then get back more than the CO2 price costs them.
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In response to the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on special funds, Messner advocates for raising the CO2 price to 50 euros, with a potential portion going towards a "climate money" fund to alleviate citizens' burdens. This suggestion comes as a solution to the gap in the budget caused by the court decision, and it's important to address climate protection and CO2 emission reduction in the context of national budgetary policy and climate policy.
Source: www.ntv.de
