Energy-intensive companies now have the opportunity to register for the future bidding procedure of the Climate protection contracts zu bewerben. Sie können ihre Anträge binnen zwei Monaten zu dem vorbereitenden Verfahren einreichen. Dies ist die einzige Voraussetzung für die Teilnahme am ersten Bieterverfahren. Bei einem späteren Zuschlag erhalten Unternehmen, die bisher mindestens 10 Kilotonnen CO₂ jährlich ausstoßen, erhebliche Bundesmittel bei ihren CO₂-Einsparprojekten.
Cost compensation through climate protection contracts
If a company is awarded a climate protection contract, the additional costs required to switch to renewable energies are reimbursed in the form of state-subsidized compensation payments. The program is not only aimed at large companies in the Steel, chemical, cement or glass industrybut explicit also to the middle class. It supports the switch to climate-friendly production within the next 15 years. However, if climate-neutral production becomes cheaper than production using fossil fuels, the payment is reversed. In this case, previously subsidized companies have to pay back their additional income.
The funding that has now been made available comes from the BEHG trading with CO₂ certificates. Diese dienen auch zur Absicherung der Unternehmen bei der Preisentwicklung für Energien. Interessenten müssen jetzt ihr Projekt zur Klimaneutralität beim Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz register. Sobald sie den jeweiligen Aufwand beziffern, können sie den Antrag einreichen. Im zweiten Schritt, der noch in diesem Jahr stattfinden soll, erhalten die günstigsten Gebote Klimaschutzverträge, bis die bisher freigegebenen Finanzmittel aufgeraucht sind. Dazu habe man einen „mittlerer Zweistelliger Milliardenbetrag“ bereitgestellt, erklärte Bundeswirtschafts- und Klimaminister Robert Habeck.
Further development of climate protection contracts for companies necessary
Overall, the billion-euro package is intended to promote new climate-friendly production methods, the introduction of which has so far been costly and risky for companies. The German government hopes that this will give a further boost to investment in climate innovations, from which the entire industry can benefit in the medium and long term.
In principle, the entire German climate protection agreement program has already been coordinated with the EU. Only the details still need to be worked out so that there is no distortion of competition between European companies. So far, only the Netherlands has initiated a similar support program. The offer of climate protection contracts is another important building block for supporting energy-intensive companies within the framework of the Decisions of the European Union from April 2023.