After some bad news for climate protection, this is a good one: the EU is extending its emissions trading to road transport and buildings, among other things, as has been planned for a long time. The "old" emissions trading scheme, which only applied to energy and industry, is being tightened at the same time.
Both have a back door. As in the recently introduced German certificate trading system, the CO2 price for transport and heating will initially be capped and mitigated by a social fund. In the future, the more heavily polluted industry is to be protected against competition by means of a CO2 border levy.
The good news is not that climate policy has solved its tasks (Europe cannot stop climate change on its own anyway). As in the past, the trading of CO2 certificates will have to be improved. It is doubtful, for example, that the initially regulated increase in the price of diesel, gasoline and natural gas will motivate the mass switch to electric sources or e-fuels.
Are alternatives really getting cheaper?
Rather, rising prices may be within the range of fluctuation to which Europeans have become accustomed for too long. They will only get used to it if alternatives are actually cheaper. Moreover, as the needs of the traffic light coalition show, it is much more difficult for politicians to burden private households than it is to put pressure on industry. In the back of your mind, yellow vest beats climate glue.
However, it is absolutely to be welcomed that the EU is sticking to an instrument that guarantees the highest degree of self-determination and has proven its worth in protecting the climate. The counter-model is the exit and prohibition policy of the Greens, for example. They cannot explain why it is necessary to ban what is supposed to be so expensive anyway that it is no longer worthwhile. This applies to coal-fired power as well as to gas heating systems.
Even for the opponents of this policy, however, it should be clear that the "fossil" life will one day become unaffordable. They sometimes forget to pour this pure wine to their clientele.