German aviation levy revenues must be used for climate action – transport min

The revenues from Germany’s aviation levy should be used “for research, innovation and climate targets”, German transport minister Andreas Scheuer told news agency dpa ahead of the first national aviation conference in Leipzig on Wednesday (21 August). “Our ministry wants to support instead of introducing bans. We want to make clean synthetic fuels cheaper,” said Scheuer. Until now, the revenues are part of Germany’s federal budget. At the conference, the German aviation industry meets government representatives to discuss sustainable and efficient future mobility. The participants signed the “Leipzig statement for the future of aviation”, which will later feed into a federal government’s aviation strategy. It calls for sustainability to be made "a central task of aviation policy". "Electric and hybrid-electric aviation are central elements of strategic industrial policy," said economy minister Peter Altmaier in a press release. "The federal economy ministry will make its contribution to ensuring that appropriate technologies are available in time for the start of development for the next generation of aircraft."

The German Aviation Association has said it wants to bring CO₂ emissions from air traffic to zero and called for a power-to-liquid road map to reach this goal. Air traffic has become a focus of public attention, both in Germany and across Europe. Germany’s political parties are considering ways to reduce the climate impact of aviation, for example by a possible taxation of kerosene.