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KIt’s been less than a year since the federal and state governments agreed on a CO2 price after a long struggle. Companies and consumers will have to pay 25 euros per ton from the beginning of 2021 if they use diesel, natural gas, gasoline or diesel. The price is expected to rise to 55 euros in 2025. Hopefully, those who have to dig deeper into their pockets for fossil fuels will be more environmentally friendly. But shortly before the start date, a fundamental debate broke out in Berlin about who should pay the price for CO2 and who shouldn’t.
Specifically, it is the question of whether tenants or landlords should bear the additional costs of climate protection. For the moment, it all comes down to the tenants. Energy companies are raising oil and gas prices, landlords allocate them to apartments and individual tenants through the utility bill. But especially in big cities, where many people already spend more than a third of their disposable income on rent, this is the subject of criticism. Therefore, the climate protection program contains an audit mandate to determine whether and how the allocation of the CO2 price could be limited.
The SPD-led federal finance, environment and justice ministries proposed in late September that the additional costs be split evenly between tenants and landlords. Unsurprisingly, this was met with little enthusiasm at the CDU.
Costs could be an incentive for homeowners
The Minister of the Environment, Svenja Schulze, increases the pressure again: “For me it is important that the price of CO2 is socially cushioned,” she told FAZ. The equitable division between tenants and owners is appropriate, as both influence CO2 emissions. “A new regulation is not only necessary in terms of social policy, but it also provides better incentives in terms of climate policy. I hope that the Union will not only say yes to the price of CO2, but also protect tenants. “
The German Economic Institute in Cologne has calculated the amounts involved using as an example a single-family house with an area of 125 square meters and natural gas heating. For this house – warm monthly rent so far a good 1,000 euros – tenants would have to pay 12 euros more every month for the next year due to the price of CO2. In 2025, this amount will rise to a good 26 euros. The institute’s projections predict a cost increase of more than € 60 per month by 2040. This only includes the price of CO2 for heating. This does not include additional gasoline or diesel expenses if the household has a car.
The Greens even go a step further than the SPD: in a new proposal from the parliamentary group, they demand that the owners bear the full cost of the price of CO2. The deputies argue that the tenants bear the entire heating costs without having any influence on the energy source. But if the price is to ensure that more climate-friendly heating systems are installed, it should be borne by those who decide. The German Tenants Association and environmental aid also want landlords to bear only the additional costs. A change in distribution capacity can be implemented quickly “through minor adjustments” in the heating cost ordinance, it says there.
