BERLIN: Germany will use its G20 Presidency to nudge world leaders towards a global price on carbon, according to its director general of energy policy.
Thorsten Herdan said that the world can’t stabilize CO2 emissions without making polluters pay.
Herdan, of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said if renewables got cheaper still, the market would respond by dropping the coal price more.
Some of President Trump’s advisers have argued that any carbon price should be fixed at zero to reflect the benefits of fossil fuels.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to try to persuade President Trump that the world is moving towards clean energy.
It will be presented at the G20 in Hamburg in July, when climate change and sustainable development will be among a handful of major themes.
The G20 is the central forum for international cooperation on economic issues. Its member countries account for three-quarters of global trade, and house almost two-thirds of the world’s population.
The agenda appears to offer a direct challenge to President Trump’s ‘America First’ credo. The symbol of the meeting is a reef knot, to emphasise the interconnectedness of peoples.
The text says: “The digital age and the globalised world are marked by increasing diversity and complexity.
“The world is a world of ever-closer connection. It is a challenge for policy makers, but it also expands their possibilities for action.”
The agenda re-affirms the commitment made by all G20 members in Paris in 2015 to keep global warming significantly below 2°C and to pursue the UN’s global goals for sustainable development.
The US Congress has resisted a federal carbon tax until now. A small group of veteran Republicans recently pressed the idea with White House officials, but it received a hostile response from many Congressmen.
Among the G20, though, other major players like Japan have not yet adopted carbon pricing. Australia embraced it, only to drop it again after an onslaught from fossil fuel companies.
But not all fossil fuel firms think the same. Last year the chief executives of six large European oil companies, including BP and Shell, called for “widespread carbon pricing in all countries”.
The German government insists the carbon tax is just one of many measures to achieve climate goals.
