“State budget less sustainable than ever”

The fraction of Germany’s budget generated by taxing economic activities harmful to the environment and the climate is declining, according to calculations by NGO Green Budget Germany (FÖS). Just 4.3 percent of the public budget - less than the EU-average of 5 percent - stem from this source, “providing few incentives to reduce pollution or resource consumption”, FÖS says in a press release. Germany’s former finance minister Hans Eichel, member of the FÖS board, says the country had to “come back to a constructive budget and tax policy to reach its self-imposed goals in line with the Paris Climate Agreement”. FÖS director Björn Klusmann says Germany should bring the share of sustainability taxes up to 10 percent and introduce a CO₂ price of 30 euros per tonne to complement the “insufficient” European Emissions Trading System (ETS).

Read the press release in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet How Energiewende policy is shaped for more information.