The conversion to climate-friendly production is costly – the Federal Minister of Economics wants to support companies in this. To do this, he relies on climate protection agreements.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to support large companies with climate protection contracts worth billions in switching to climate-friendly production. It is about developing a marketable “green industry”, Habeck told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The state funding stimulates the necessary innovations, supports companies in the conversion and helps to promote the use of hydrogen. “With the climate protection agreements, we are opening a new chapter, with Germany taking on a pioneering role,” said Habeck.
According to him, the climate protection agreements are intended to support both investment and operating costs over a period of 15 years. The payments are not intended to benefit all industrial companies, but to finance a few selected, large production facilities in a targeted manner. The prerequisite is that the respective companies produce exclusively with electricity from renewable energies.
According to the report, climate-friendly production is often so costly that companies cannot switch to it because they would otherwise have a too great a cost disadvantage in competition. Habeck therefore wants to compensate for the additional costs that arise for more climate-friendly production in large companies with high CO₂ emissions. As a result, new, transformative technologies should become marketable much faster.
As soon as climate-friendly production becomes cheaper than conventional production, the payment should be reversed: the subsidized companies then pay their additional income to the state. The draft is currently being voted on by the associations. According to Habeck’s goal, the funding guidelines should come into force in the first half of 2023.