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10/22/2019 | Wissenschaftliche Standpunkte

Transport experts from German universities criticize CO2 price decision by German government

Together with 14 other scientists from the field of transportation, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer (Department of Transportation Planning and Systems) has criticized the German government's CO2 price resolution. According to the experts, this would hardly lead to any improvements in traffic behavior - on the contrary: the real price of gasoline would increase much less than presented by the federal government. This means that the compensation decided on in the form of a higher commuter allowance is not necessary either.

Image: Sonja Rode/Light Catch.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer.

The actual task of theCO2 price is to create incentives for changed transport behavior, for example to use public transport more or even the bicycle. It is also intended to encourage the purchase of lower-emission cars. However, the 15 professors criticize that these goals will not be achieved at all, since theCO2 price of 35 EUR/t in 2025 will not increase the real price of gasoline by 10 ct/l in six years, but only by 2.6 ct/l due to inflation. For many car commuters - especially those with long commuting distances and high incomes - the increased commuter allowance would even make the car journey to work cheaper, so that the measures adopted would in part provide incentives for greater car use.

Further information: http://www.vpl.tu-dortmund.de/cms/de/Aktuelles/Meldungen/Pillepalle/CO2-Bepreisung-und-Entfernungspauschale-Bilder/Die-eingebildete-CO2-Steuer-kurz-korrigiert-2019-10-11.pdf

 

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Carsten Sommer
University of Kassel
Department of Transportation Planning and Systems
E-mail: c.sommer@uni-kassel.de