The purpose of this law is to ensure that national climate protection targets are met and European targets are met. It is also intended to support Germany's commitment at the UN climate summit in New York on September 23, 2019 to pursue greenhouse gas neutrality as a long-term goal by 2050. It was adopted after the federal Government submitted its climate program to 2030.The law notably introduces a national carbon tax, set at 25 euros per tonne of CO2 from 2021. On June 24th, 2021, the Bundestag passed an amendment to set the carbon neutrality goal to 2045, instead of 2050. On 26 April 2024, the Bundestag passed another amendment to the Act, which came into effect through the Act of 15 July 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024, no. 235). 

​The summary of this document was written by researchers at the Grantham Research Institute for the Climate Change Laws of the World database, available at climate-laws.org

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