Resistance to a postponement of climate money announced by Finance Minister Lindner is growing: In addition to the SPD and the Greens, social and environmental associations are also calling for a rapid introduction. And there are also plans for this in the FDP parliamentary group.
In the debate about climate money as social compensation for higher CO2 prices, pressure is growing on Finance Minister Christian Lindner. After the SPD and Green factions had already asked the minister to introduce it during this legislative period, environmental and social associations now also turned to Lindner.
In an open letter they demand that climate money not be postponed. “Minister Lindner: Pay out the climate money during this legislative period!” it says. The “Spiegel” first reported on the open letter.
16 associations have joined the appeal, including the AWO, Diakonie, the social association VdK and the Paritätische Gesamtverband as well as the Climate Alliance Germany, the BUND, the German Environmental Aid and the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations.
The associations argue that they supported CO2 pricing on the condition that the amounts paid by citizens are reimbursed through climate money. Such a payment ensures that climate protection becomes socially fairer and increases social acceptance of climate protection. Regardless of climate money and the CO2 price, the federal government must also ensure “an adequate funding framework to support a socially balanced climate policy,” the associations write in the open letter.
Resistance from the SPD and the Greens
Lindner said in an interview that a per capita payout would technically be possible from 2025. However, he rejected the actual introduction of climate money in this election period: “Whether we politically restructure the funding landscape in this direction will have to be decided after the next election.”
In response to the statements, the Greens and the SPD pushed for faster social compensation for higher CO2 prices. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert brought up possible tax discounts or a long-distance commuter allowance as an alternative to climate money. The parliamentary manager of the Green parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, said that her group had “absolutely no understanding” of postponing climate money until the coming legislative period. She announced that the project would be the subject of budget discussions for the coming year.
FDP parliamentary group with a financing plan
Meanwhile, according to “Bild”, the FDP parliamentary group can imagine climate money being paid out as early as 2025. The payment amount should initially be just under 100 euros per capita, said the deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Lukas Köhler to the newspaper. In the following years the amount would increase significantly again.
To provide counter-financing, the FDP parliamentary group is proposing the elimination of subsidies, including for the promotion of e-mobility, aid for the decarbonization of industry and for the chip industry.
Raising dispute: decision may still be made in this electoral period
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit also indicated that a decision on climate money could still be made during this legislative period. With a view to Lindner’s statements about creating the technical requirements by 2025, he said: “And then the mechanism would be available. And everything else is then a decision that has to be made.”
Hebestreit referred to the budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, as a result of which the federal government had already put together a controversial austerity package. “Then you have to decide in the budget where this money should come from,” he said in reference to climate money.
On behalf of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Hebestreit said that the possible payment mechanism should now be launched “with the necessary speed”. With 82 million potential holders of a tax identification number, the necessary link to an account is not a trivial undertaking.
Jan Zimmermann, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, January 17, 2024 5:10 p.m