16-Nov-2019: Germany’s Climate Protection Act

The German parliament passed the Climate Protection Act in an attempt to reach its climate target by 2030. This will be Germany’s first climate action law. With this bill, a price on carbon emissions in the transport and heating sectors will be imposed along with some other measures to combat climate change. Furthermore, lawmakers also supported to hike the prices of domestic and European flight tickets.

Last week, New Zealand passed the Zero-Carbon Law in a bid to comply with its Paris climate accord commitments and become a carbon-neutral nation by the year 2050. However, unlike New Zealand, where the bill was passed with near-unanimous support, the same was not the case with Germany, where the opposition voted against it.

The bill consists of emissions targets for different sectors of the economy such as transport, energy and housing. Furthermore, the German parliament also wants to adopt a legislative package with various instruments for climate change such as a price on the emissions of CO2 on fuel, heating oil and gas. This is because apart from trying to reach its climate targets by 2030, Germany also wants to save over 55 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990.

From 2021, companies that market diesel and petrol, heating oil and natural gas in the country will need to obtain pollution rights for the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. This will be regulated through a national emissions trading mechanism. The cost of these emissions will drive up the cost of using fossil fuels, making the usage of such fuels more expensive for the citizens and hence, discouraging their use and paving the way for climate-friendly technologies.