“CO2 needs a price”

Even though renewable power is now cheaper than conventional fossil power in many countries, it would be wrong to assume global energy and climate policy will become “a no-brainer,” Brigitte Knopf, secretary general of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), said in an interview with Frankfurter Rundschau. While “renewables are on the rise globally,” many countries still count on cheap coal plants to spur their growth, Knopf explained. “The G20 countries under a German presidency should therefore enforce a CO₂ price as an important element of climate protection,” she said. Knopf stressed that to reach its own climate targets, Germany must step up efforts to phase out coal and called for a steady price increase for carbon allowances under the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS).

For more information on the Energiewende and emissions, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change.