Yet Berlin’s support comes with the radical condition that EU countries must be allowed to incorporate international carbon credits in their climate efforts — meaning that instead of reducing pollution at home, they could pay for emissions cuts in non-EU countries and count those toward their own climate balance.
Despite some enhanced global governance rules, the reliability of such credits varies wildly. Critics warn that relying on offsets would discourage much-needed emissions cuts and shift rich countries’ responsibility to developing nations.
Last month, POLITICO reported that the European Commission has held talks with lawmakers and governments on including international credits in the EU-wide goal. The revelation caused significant disquiet among green-minded European Parliament members and environmental groups. The German government deal, if approved, will add the weight of Europe’s largest economy to the push for the credits to be included.
Speaking before the coalition deal was released, Tiemo Wölken, a German SPD MEP, said using such credits would “undermine the credibility of our climate policies and unduly shift responsibility onto other nations. This would open up tremendous loopholes instead of enabling emissions reductions at home.”
The coalition deal stipulates that any credits should be certified and of high quality, lead to permanent emissions reduction and be limited to “maximum 3 percentage points of the 2040 target.”
In addition, the coalition makes its 90 percent support contingent on being allowed to count permanent carbon removals toward the target. And the deal says Germany’s contribution to the EU-wide target must be limited to its existing domestic 2040 target — 88 percent.
