Climate policy: relief for tenants in the CO2 price is getting closer

The federal government’s plan to relieve many tenants of the heating costs and climate tax is making progress. A corresponding draft law by the Economics and Building Ministries was forwarded to the other Federal Ministries for examination.

The paper is available from the German Press Agency in Berlin. From next year, landlords are to take over part of the so-called CO2 price – and more, the less climate-friendly their house is. Since last year, the CO2 price has made heating and refueling more expensive and is intended to help reduce climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions.

Ten-step model

In the future, a ten-step model will apply to the division between tenants and landlords. For houses with very high carbon dioxide emissions per square meter, landlords would pay 90 percent of the CO2 price, while tenants with very low emissions would pay the costs themselves. This should encourage landlords to make energy-saving renovations and tenants to save energy. In the case of houses such as commercial buildings in which no one lives, the costs should be divided equally. In the next steps, the cabinet still has to approve the plans, and the Bundestag will make the final decision.

The construction policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Marco Luczak (CDU), described the proposal as a “bluff”. It is unfair that when the costs are divided, it is not the energetic condition of the building that is relevant, but the amount of fuel consumed. This penalizes owners who have already renovated their buildings. “Because how much fuel is consumed depends on many factors such as the number of users and the weather conditions, which vary greatly from region to region.”