With 46 billion euros per year, the German government favours the mining and climate-damaging burning of coal, oil and gas in Germany.
This policy makes the energy transition more expensive and passes on a large part of the follow-up costs of fossil energies to society. This is the result of a study by the Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) commissioned by the independent environmental organisation Greenpeace. "Every euro squandered on dirty energies is an investment in further climate destruction," says Greenpeace energy expert Tobias Austrup. "There is still not a black zero for fossil subsidies, but a deep red minus in the federal budget." (The study online.)
Already in 2009, at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the German government, together with the other governments, committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies, but without setting a date for the phase-out. "By 2020 at the latest, we must finally put an end to fuelling the climate catastrophe with billions in subsidies," Austrup demands. "A clear plan to phase out coal in Germany is needed so that the German government remains credible in foreign policy." In Italy and England, plans to phase out coal have already been adopted.
The lion's share of climate-damaging subsidies favours transport
The main beneficiary of fossil subsidies is transport with 28.5 billion euros. At just under eight billion euros, artificially cheap diesel is the largest single subsidy. The tax exemption for aviation fuel is worth 7.5 billion, the distance allowance a good five billion, the VAT exemption for international flights 4.4 billion and the company car privilege three billion. For a quarter of a century, transport has made no contribution whatsoever to climate protection. In 2016, according to the Federal Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from transport were even one percent higher than in 1990.
"The transport turnaround cannot progress if internal combustion engines are supported with massive subsidies." The share of electric cars in new registrations in Germany was just 0.5 per cent in the first five months of 2017, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Despite the German government's purchase premium, registration figures have barely risen.
Greenpeace study: Subsidies for fossil energies in Germany
Download link of the study
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