German conservatives may embrace carbon price yet - report

Both the new state secretary in the energy ministry, Andreas Feicht, and CDU-head Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer have made tentatively positive remarks about a price on carbon in Germany in recent weeks, Silke Kersting and Klaus Stratmann write in Handelsblatt. Even one of the most vocal critics, deputy leader of the parliamentary group Georg Nüßlein, told Handelsblatt that he was open for “every discussion” on a CO2 tax – although no model that had been presented had convinced him yet. And although there has been heavy criticism of the SPD environment minister’s draft for a climate action law from the conservatives, CDU climate action spokesperson Anja Weißgerber told Handelsblatt that her party would continue to support the implementation of a climate action law by the end of the year. The reason for this could be “political calculus”, the authors say. “Should the coalition between CDU/CSU and SPD be discontinued early, the CDU/CSU would have to look for a new coalition partner and as a conservative-green alliance doesn’t seem improbable at the moment, they wouldn’t be able to uphold a blockade of the climate action law and a CO2 tax anyway”.

In February, environment minister Svenja Schulze presented a draft climate action law with sector and annual emission reduction targets. She has also  repeatedly advocated a price on CO2 to enable Germany to reach its climate targets. Both proposals have drawn criticism from the conservatives in the Federal Parliament and even her own party.