“From 2025, we can technically make a per-capita payout. That puts us on track. Whether we politically restructure the funding landscape in this direction will be decided after the next election,” said the FDP politician to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ) according to a preview report on Sunday.
Economists and consumer advocates demanded climate funds
Prior to that, parts of the political sphere, economists, and consumer advocates had demanded swift disbursement of climate funds to compensate for the increased CO2 price at the beginning of the year, which makes fueling and heating more expensive.
Lindner emphasized that the idea of climate funds was to reimburse the people with per-capita income from the CO2 price. “At present, the income is being used to promote heating systems, building renovation, green steel production, charging stations for electric cars, and so on. In short, because one household receives a subsidy for a heat pump, several hundred others in that year cannot receive any climate funds. One cannot spend the money twice. Therefore, the climate funds would replace the subsidies that we currently have,” he told NOZ. According to him, a system change of this kind can only be decided after the next federal election.
SPD, Greens, and FDP had agreed on climate funds in the coalition agreement: If the CO2 price increases for climate protection reasons, money will be transferred to citizens’ accounts as compensation. However, given the tight budget, it is uncertain whether the federal government can afford this. Furthermore, technical requirements for a direct payment to citizens must first be established. According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, this should be possible by 2025.
