EU Climate Law: Relieve businesses, avoid rigid requirements!
On 2 July, the EU Commission presented its proposed regulation for a Climate Law 2040. Holger Schwannecke, Secretary General of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses (ZDH), explains:
Foto: ZDH/Henning Schacht
"New theoretical debates and rigid climate targets arrive at the wrong time. If Europe wants to survive as a business location, it needs to become much more SME-friendly, and fast.
What the skilled crafts sector needs now is a clear triad of measures that will provide noticeable relief and have a long-term effect: firstly, guaranteeing secure and affordable energy prices, secondly, cushioning the upcoming CO₂ pricing, for example through structural relief on electricity costs for all enterprises, and thirdly, consistently reducing the excessive bureaucracy at EU level. Everything else must be subordinate to this goal."