Per capita reimbursement: consumer advocates want social compensation for CO2 prices

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) calls for the income from the CO2 price on oil and gas to be reimbursed in full to the citizens. This emerges from a position paper that the association published on Monday.

Accordingly, the consumer advocates are urging that the CO2 surcharge on fossil fuels, which has been in force since January 1, flows back to consumers via a so-called climate check – a per capita reimbursement – regardless of its amount. In the short term, the federal government should relieve citizens of the costs of more climate protection by lowering the EEG surcharge and overall electricity prices, it said.

The CO2 price in transport and for heating is currently 25 euros per ton of CO2. It makes the use of climate-damaging fuels more expensive and is intended to create incentives for the use of clean energy sources. The price is expected to rise to 55 euros by 2025. As a result, consumers have to pay more at the pump and for heating – unless clean alternatives are used. A regulation that ensures that this does not result in disproportionately high financial burdens would have to be made by a future federal government.

“The political parties have to explain clearly how they want to cushion the climate-politically correct increase in the price of heating and fuel in a consumer-friendly and socially-oriented manner,” said vzbv board member Klaus Müller.

In addition to its position paper, the association also published the results of a survey commissioned by the market research institute Kantar on Monday. According to the representative survey, a majority of citizens (59 percent) would be happy with higher CO2 prices if a direct compensation were created – for example through a repayment per capita.