Germany has been cutting back on its carbon emissions for years now, but the progress has been achieved primarily by the increasing use of renewable sources of energy to produce electricity. Less improvement has been seen, however, in terms of curbing emissions produced by transportation-based sources and heating. This has led the German government to try to support low-emission alternatives by using the sale and trading of permits to charge €25 per ton of CO2 emissions immediately, and increasing the amount to €55 in 2025. The price would eventually be set by auction in a range of €55 and €65 per ton and the number of permits would be fixed in order to meet the the country’s emissions goals. The opposition party FDP has called the plan unconstitutional and will have it analyzed in order to launch a legal suit to block it. The FDP doesn’t have sufficient power to block the legislation on its own, so it would have to win over other parties to its side.
