From BZ/dpa
Climate protection really costs money. That should be clear to everyone at least since the heated discussions about the heating law in the federal government. The Berlin Senate is now daring to make a billion-dollar surcharge in order to make faster progress with climate investments.
Berlin wants to spend additional billions for more climate protection. On Tuesday, the black-red Senate introduced a bill for a so-called special fund of five billion euros. The sum should be financed through loans and flow into projects that are not paid for through the regular state budget, as Finance Senator Stefan Evers (CDU) announced.
The aim is to accelerate the switch to fossil-free energy and reduce emissions. The draft law will now be discussed in the House of Representatives and then passed with the aim of starting the special fund in 2024.
The reasons
Evers gave social and climate policy reasons for the approach that the CDU and SPD had agreed on in their coalition agreement in the spring.
► On the one hand, the sharp rise in energy prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine made it clear that dependence on fossil fuels had to be overcome quickly.
► On the other hand, the increase in extreme weather events shows the need to act on climate protection.
House of Representatives to decide “emergency”.
“The investment requirements are so high in volume that they cannot be represented within the framework of a normal budget,” said Evers about the loans, which according to the Senate are compatible with the debt brake. “Waiting would mean damage for Berliners and this city. And that must be averted.” The senator argued that hesitant action would also drive up costs.
Taking on debt outside of the budget and thus circumventing the debt brake is generally controversial. In order to be on the safe side legally, the House of Representatives should decide on an “emergency” in addition to the law in question, according to Evers.
What are the millions for?
Specifically, the money is intended for projects that accelerate climate protection in the building sector, in energy production and supply, in transport and mobility, and in the economy.
► In the case of buildings, this can concern, for example, their energetic renovation, in the case of energy, new infrastructure for the heating transition.
► In the area of mobility, Evers named measures for better public transport, for bicycle and pedestrian traffic or a conversion of the vehicle fleet to electric drives as examples.
► In business, money could flow into projects to increase energy efficiency, for example. Progress in climate protection that the program brings is to be documented using concrete and measurable criteria such as CO2 emissions.
As Evers explained further, no large pot of five billion euros is being considered. Rather, loans would be taken out and disbursed on a project basis. The core of the law is a credit authorization in the amount of five billion euros.
In 2026 it should be checked how the program is running and then a decision made on a possible increase to up to ten billion euros. The repayment of the loans for the five-billion-dollar fortune that was initially launched is to begin in 2030 and be completed in 2056.
Not the first special program
The special fund for climate protection is not the first in Berlin. The country already has several such funds outside the budget proper. The most well-known is the special asset Infrastructure of the Growing City (SIWA).
According to the tax authorities, such assets in connection with climate protection also exist in different forms in other countries, such as Bremen, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia. The federal government has transferred credit authorizations to combat the corona pandemic to climate protection. The Federal Constitutional Court is currently reviewing this procedure.
The goal of reducing CO2 emissions by at least 70 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 is set out in the Berlin Energy Transition Act. By 2045 at the latest, they should be reduced by at least 95 percent. Then Berlin would be climate-neutral. Climate neutrality means that no greenhouse gases are emitted that exceed those that are absorbed by nature, for example. Like Berlin, Germany wants to be there by 2045, and the EU by 2050.