German federal environment ministers call for CO2 tax

The environment ministers of Germany's federal states have called on the German government to examine a carbon-dioxide (CO2) tax, according to a statement published by the ministers in Hamburg on Friday.

The German government should consider a CO2 tax "in the current legislative period" while "taking into account additional social and tax policy instruments to avoid social imbalances," the federal ministers stated.

They emphasized that the previous measures of the German government for climate protection had failed to have a "sufficient steering effect".

"I am particularly pleased that we have succeeded in taking unanimous decisions across parties on the controversial issue of CO2 pricing, which is very far-reaching," said Hamburg's senator for the environment and energy, Jens Kerstan.

The tax on petrol, heating oil or coal was, however, only a proposal for the German government, noted Kerstan.

In order to meet Germany's climate protection targets, "far-reaching climate neutrality" must be achieved by 2050, the ministers said in their statement. The German government should "stand up in the European Union for the goal of climate neutrality by 2050".

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) has been in favor of a CO2 tax and is working on a plan within her ministry to be presented in July.

The leader of the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has recently expressed her opposition to a tax on the climate-damaging greenhouse gas (GHG).

Kramp-Karrenbauer and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have instead spoken out in favor of expanding the already existing trade of emission certificates in the European Union (EU), which currently only covers the energy sector and parts of industry.

The German Ministry for the Environment has expressed doubts, however, that the EU emissions trading scheme could be extended to transport and buildings, for example.

German popular support for a carbon tax was relatively low, according to a YouGov survey published on Friday which found that only 32 percent of Germans supported a CO2 tax compared to the 49 percent who did not.