The price increases due to emissions trading are likely to be of a similar magnitude to the energy crisis in autumn 2022
Quelle: picture alliance / Panama Pictures
From 2027, the transport and building sectors will be included in EU emissions trading. As a result, the prices for fuel, heating oil and gas will rise significantly, as calculations show. Targeted relief for households is the big problem.
Dhe emissions trading in the transport and building sectors planned by the European Union from 2027 will make fossil fuels such as petrol, heating oil and natural gas significantly more expensive. This is the result of calculations by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) for WELT AM SONNTAG.
In Germany, fossil fuels have been subject to a tax of currently 30 euros per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO₂) since 2021. However, with the transfer of the tax system to Europe-wide emissions trading, which is planned for 2027, “significantly higher CO₂ prices must be expected”, according to the analysis by the MCC scientists led by Matthias Kalkuhl.
“Without comprehensive funding programs, bans or standards, prices of between 200 and 300 euros per tonne of CO₂ are conceivable in 2030,” says the evaluation of the MCC experts. This would “result in fuel price increases on a scale similar to that seen in the 2022 energy crisis.”
In contrast to the energy crisis of 2022, governments could use the next few years to “design compensation programs that specifically relieve households without weakening the incentive effect of CO₂ pricing,” advise the MCC scientists.
The “climate money” already announced in the coalition agreement of the governing parties could be “a building block for comprehensive relief”. Overall, the high CO₂ prices “represent significant financial incentives to invest in CO₂-saving technologies such as electric cars, heat pumps or insulation.”
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