Germany Looks to Revamp Billions in Tax Subsidies for Polluters

Germany faces clawing back 55 billion euros ($61 billion) in tax breaks aiding its biggest polluting industries, in a move to cut greenhouse emissions by 2030—but this could hurt its own companies.

Environmental tax breaks are targeted at the transport, industrial, agricultural, and manufacturing industries. Those sectors in 2018 together account for more than 60% of the country’s gross value added, an indicator of economic contribution, according to data from the Federal Statistics Agency.

And as lawmakers are increasingly divided over the task of dismantling incentives that subsidize heavily-polluting industries, the cloud of a pending ...