CO ₂ price with climate dividend

A coal power plant. The introduction of a fee-and-dividend system would make fossil fuels such as coal , crude oil and natural gas more expensive and strengthen non-carbon-based forms of energy in competition.

Scheme: CO ₂ price with climate dividend

A CO ₂ price with a carbon fee and dividend , also known as energy money or - more rarely and somewhat misleadingly - eco bonus, denotes an income-neutral tax on the carbon-based energy sources coal , crude oil and natural gas , which is paid entirely to the citizens is distributed. The system represents an alternative proposal to emissions trading according to the cap-and-trade method or to CO ₂ taxation without redistribution.

Fee and dividend consists of duties ( fee ) and payments ( dividend ). The amount of the levy is expected to increase over time and will be included in the price of fossil fuels , which will gradually make them more expensive. The money collected will be redistributed in full and in equal parts to all citizens at the same time (state quota neutral ). As a result, there is on average no net additional burden for citizens. Anyone who uses less fossil fuels than the population average would benefit from a fee-and-dividend system, as he or she receives more payments than was previously paid in levies through product prices.

structure

The fee-and-dividend system is seen by its proponents as a way of giving the economy and society a chance for an orderly transition into a post-fossil age.

The increasing burden of fossil fuels would give the economy further incentives to get by with less of this energy and to develop more alternative technologies . With the dividend, citizens also received an incentive to use less fossil fuel. Because whoever pays less in taxes than the average consumer will still receive the same reimbursement for everyone. This can be understood as a kind of financial “compensation” for a comparatively economical use of fossil energy. On the other hand, those who use an above-average amount of fossil fuels pay more into the general pot through taxes than is paid out through the reimbursement. In many cases, the system is likely to lead to a redistribution from higher-income and high-consumption classes to lower-income and lower-consumption classes.

Earmarking

Systems of CO ₂ pricing with a climate dividend or other forms of reimbursement usually provide for a revenue-neutral design and thus mostly earmarked revenue. In Germany, so-called purpose taxes are possible, but it applies to public budgets, the universality principle . Ie no expenditure (here: the payment to the citizens) may be made dependent on the actual revenue of any tax (here: the CO ₂ tax) ( Section 7 of the Budget Principles Act (HGrG); principle of total coverage ). Accordingly, the legislature would be free to decide every year within the framework of budget consultations how the income from the CO ₂ tax should be used. There would be no legal entitlement of the taxable citizen to a specific use.

Technical feasibility

Since fossil energies are almost always mined or imported in a centralized manner (e.g. open-cast lignite mining, petroleum port, coal freighters), the easiest way to collect the levy is at these central points. This would require very little additional administration. This also applies to the redistribution to all citizens, as this should be done automatically and "per capita" without further individual checks. The regular increase in the levy could be adapted to current results from climate research.

Political support

The introduction of a CO ₂ called Tax in the United States with complete redistribution of income in each citizen the same level more than 3500 US economists, including 27 Nobel Prize winners and four former chairman of the Federal Reserve , in a statement in January 2019 Wall Street Journal was published. Such a tax is "the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," according to economists. The climate dividend would ensure maximum fairness and political feasibility.

For a fee and dividend in the United States sits u. a. the climate protection organization Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL). The proposal of the Citizens' Climate Lobby was introduced as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 768) in the US House of Representatives on January 24, 2019, and is discussed there in various committees and sub-committees. With James Hansen also one of the most climate scientists for speaking fee and dividend from. The chairman of the venture capital investor Roda Group Dan Miller speaks out in a TED Talk 2014 for the introduction of a fee-and-dividend system.

Since 2015 there have also been several active groups of the Citizens' Lobby Climate Protection (CCL-D) in Germany that inform political decision-makers about the principle of a fee-and-dividend system. In Europe, unlike in the USA, for example, there is already an emissions trading system . This is made possible by the favorable availability of certificates on the market and its restriction to individual sectors such as B. Power plants, however, currently hardly do justice to its planned control task. The climate protection public lobby therefore advocates a gradual transition to a fee-and-dividend system.

Examples

In Switzerland, there has been an incentive tax since January 2008 to reduce CO ₂ emissions from heating oil, coal and natural gas for heating buildings. Most of the income is reimbursed equally to all confederates. However, the charge leaves z. B. emissions from the transport sector are not yet taken into account. In addition to climate-damaging products, the VOC levy in Switzerland also makes highly volatile organic solvents (VOC) more expensive for consumers than environmentally friendly substances, and the income is also redistributed.

Individual evidence

↑ David Klenert, Linus Mattauch, Emmanuel Combet, Ottmar Edenhofer , Cameron Hepburn, Ryan Rafaty, Nicholas Stern : Making carbon pricing work for citizens . In: Nature Climate Change . tape 8 , no. 8 , p. 669-677 .

↑ Rainer Wernsmann: Behavioral control in a rational tax system . Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 429 .

^ ^A ^b Ulrich Büdenbender: Legal framework for CO ₂ pricing in the Federal Republic of Germany . Analysis for the Advisory Council to assess the macroeconomic development for the preparation of a special report for the Federal Government on the possible introduction of a CO ₂ tax. July 2019, Chapter V. Use of the CO ₂ tax revenue and Section 6. Freedom of tax collection and possible use of funds , p. 38, 40–45 ( sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de [PDF; 896 kB ]).

↑ Martin Pehnt, Amany von Oehsen, Sebastian Blömer, Peter Mellwig, Swantje Fiedler, Christian Freericks, Florian Zerzawy: Further development of the energy transition with regard to the climate protection goals 2050 - implementation concept for the heating sector . July 2017, p. 35 .