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The aim of current economic policy in Germany and Europe is to strengthen the competitiveness of companies. Research by the IfM Bonn shows that this also requires shaping the legal requirements for decarbonisation in such a way that small and medium-sized enterprises can play to their original strengths – flexibility and creativity.
There is broad consensus among family businesses in Germany that an ecological transition is necessary. But from the perspective of the Mittelstand, the key question at present is how companies can achieve a climate-friendly transformation while at the same time remaining competitive.
"The more coherently policymakers conceptualise the ecological transition, the more successfully the Mittelstand will be able to implement it. Only in doing so can family businesses bring their specific advantages, such as flexibility and creativity, to bear in order to achieve the desired goals. Current, there is a patchwork of different and poorly coordinated measures: alongside environmental-economic instruments such as emissions trading, there is a wide range of regulatory requirements, reporting obligations and support schemes," explains IfM project leader Hans-Jürgen Wolter. Together with his team, he examined the question of how legal requirements in Germany can be designed to meet the challenges of decarbonisation while at the same time giving SMEs the opportunity to play to their original strengths in the study "Regulatory framework conditions for a future-oriented Mittelstand policy". They found that the rules, regulations and comprehensive information requirements that are still widespread in Germany and the European Union place an enormous bureaucratic burden on SMEs. At the same time, the requirements prevent creative, company-specific solutions.
"Economic policy must offer small and medium-sized enterprises planning security so that they can focus on their core business," appeals Hans-Jürgen Wolter. "At the same time, it must ensure that regulatory requirements are proportionate. In other words, a climate policy that does not take into account potential losses in prosperity and jobs as well as social redistribution effects in Germany runs the risk of failing due to a lack of acceptance. Similarly, a climate policy that leads to deindustrialisation, the relocation of production to countries with lower standards and the subsequent re-import of goods from there will meet with little understanding."
In order not to disadvantage small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany vis-à-vis their competitors in other countries in the context of the EU Emissions Trading System, the IfM scientists recommend, for example, that the revenue from the uniform pricing of greenhouse gas emissions be returned as a lump sum to all companies participating in the respective emissions trading scheme. Alternatively, CO₂ certificates could be allocated to market participants free of charge within emissions trading systems. With regard to the intended steering effects, it is ultimately irrelevant whether companies incur real costs or opportunity costs in the form of foregone profits. The introduction of a border adjustment mechanism currently planned for the EU, on the other hand, is too complicated and bureaucratic from the perspective of the Mittelstand. Overall, the IfM researchers would favour extending the time frame for implementing the ecological transition, so that medium-sized enterprises are able to carry out all the necessary investments. After all, value chains and business models that have often evolved over many decades also need to be restructured at considerable cost and under significant risk.
https://www.ifm-bonn.org/fileadmin/data/redaktion/publikationen/ifm_materialien/...
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