Brussels wants industry and citizens to pay for their emissions

In the future, citizens will also have to pay for their CO2 emissions.

Credits: NOS

European industry, which partly already has to do this, will have to deal with higher emission costs, and companies from outside Europe will pay for their emissions at the border. The money raised can be spent on climate plans.

Decisions on these three proposals, known as ETS, CBAM and the Social Climate Fund, will be finalized this weekend in Brussels.

The European Union has ambitious climate plans with its Fit for 55 package: CO2 emissions must be reduced by 55 percent by 2030. The EU wants to do this through CO2 certificates: a company may only emit CO2 if it has the rights to do so. This emissions system is seen as the backbone of European climate policy.