Those who produce garbage are not allowed to just throw it on the street, but pay fees so that the garbage disposal can dispose of it. The principle of the CO2 price works in a similar way: Anyone who emits the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, be it through a car or heating, has to pay for the “dirt” in the air.
Theoretically, nobody would contradict the fact that climate-damaging behavior has to cost something, but in practice the debate about the CO2 price in Germany is becoming strange. “At the moment you can hardly get through with facts,” says Brigitte Knopf, General Secretary of the Berlin think tank MCC and Vice-Chair of the Expert Council on Climate Issues.
In the barometer she also clears up the biggest errors in the current debate about the CO2 price, and the physicist says how social equilibrium can also be created with the help of the control instrument.
Further topics in this podcast are the devastating drought in Madagascar caused by the climate crisis and the dry soils in Berlin and Brandenburg.
If you also have a question for the indicator, suggestions or criticism, please write to [email protected] – we look forward to hearing from you.
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You can also hear further episodes of the indicator here:
Episode 4 with Tagesspiegel energy expert Jakob Schlandt
Episode 3 with traffic expert Katrin Dziekan
Episode 2 with author Annika Joeres
Episode 1 with energy economist Claudia Kemfert
