CO2 price 2027 in Germany: passed, not yet in force

What the law says about 2027 today

The Fuel Emissions Trading Act originally planned the move into EU emissions trading for buildings and transport, the ETS2, for 2027. In case the EU pushed that start back by a year, section 10(3) no. 5 BEHG holds a fallback: in 2027 certificates are sold at a fixed price equal, each quarter, to the volume-weighted average of EU ETS 1 auctions in the quarter before last. The ETS 1 is the older market covering power stations and industry. That case has happened: regulation (EU) 2026/667 postponed the ETS2 to 2028, as the explanatory memorandum of the government bill records (Bundestag paper 21/7869).

Unless something else is published, the 2027 price would therefore be tied to a market households do not trade on, and it could change every quarter. The coalition wanted to avoid exactly that. Its coalition committee agreed on 12 May 2026 to hold the 2027 price at the previous year’s level, to give planning certainty while energy markets remain tense.

What the Bundestag passed on 15 October 2026

The government bill of 7 September 2026 extends the corridor, setting a minimum of €55 and a maximum of €65 per certificate for both 2026 and 2027. The Bundestag adopted it on 15 October 2026 in a roll-call vote: 303 in favour, 210 against and 52 abstentions (Bundestag). Still missing are the second reading in the Bundesrat, signature and publication in the Federal Law Gazette. The law takes effect on the day after publication. Until then the 2027 corridor is not law in force, even if many pages already present it that way.

What your 2027 bill will show

Bills follow a separate rule. Under section 4 of the CO₂ Cost Allocation Act, from 2027 the relevant figure is the average auction price from 1 July to 30 November of the previous year, so autumn 2026. The Federal Environment Agency publishes it at least ten working days before the year starts. Suppliers use it to state the CO₂ share on your bill, and landlords and tenants use it to split the cost. According to the August sales report of the German Emissions Trading Authority, the 2026 average was €65, the ceiling. We found no report for September or later.

For a single household the gap between floor and ceiling is small: €43 a year for the gas-heated house, €64 for the oil-heated one. The CO₂ calculator works out your own consumption for every year since 2021.

From 2028: the ETS2 and why nobody knows the price

With the ETS2, price setting moves to the EU level. The European Commission says the system will be fully operational in 2028, with early auctions starting in 2027. There is no corridor like the German one. As a brake, the Commission names a threshold of €45 a tonne in 2020 prices: above it, additional allowances can be released from a reserve. Because of inflation since 2020, that threshold is higher in today’s money, and it is not a ceiling.

Every figure for 2028 is therefore an assumption. We show three scenarios so you can see the order of magnitude. They are neither a forecast nor what this site expects.

To set that against a switch, the box below compares your gas use with a heat pump, with a higher CO₂ price if you like.

What owners and tenants can take from this

If you install a new gas or oil boiler, the Building Modernisation Act requires a rising share of biofuel from 2029; see the heating law. Landlords pay half the CO₂ cost of such a newly installed system from 1 January 2028; for existing systems the tier table applies (CO₂ cost split). For owner-occupiers the grant calendar matters most: the climate speed bonus is 16 % for applications up to 31 January 2027, and only for the home that is your main residence. Whether the switch pays is shown under heat pump or gas boiler. How much carbon price a litre of heating oil carries today is under CO₂ price for heating oil.