BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s next government is working on a 2021 supplementary budget to pump more than 50 billion euros into its climate fund which could then be spent over the coming years to speed up the transition towards a green economy, sources said on Thursday.
The three parties set to form the new government agreed to finance the climate fund injection with still unused debt authorization in this year’s federal budget, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The debt-financed injection means that the government will now make nearly full use of the 240 billion euros debt ceiling originally granted by parliament for 2021, the sources added.
The budget manoeuvre allows the ruling coalition to beef up its climate fund this year and possibly also next, when the debt brake is still suspended, and then use those funds for public investments in the coming years to accelerate the transformation towards a more climate-friendly and digitalized economy.
A finance ministry spokesman declined to comment.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Sarah Marsh)
