The failure to meet European Union climate targets will cost Germany billions. According to a report, the German deficit means the government will have to buy CO2 certificates from Eastern Europe for two billion euros.
While Germany is missing its climate target by just under three percent, countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary are doing significantly better, according to a report by Wirtschaftswoche.
Apparently Berlin is already preparing to make the payments. A spokesman for Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) told “Wirtschaftswoche”: “We would rather invest the money in climate protection and the modernization of the infrastructure in Germany.”