We study the impact of carbon pricing on household finance using European microdata on loans for internal combustion engine vehicles. Exploiting cross-country variation in the same car models with a difference-in-differences design, we find that banks respond to Germany's carbon price announcement by raising interest rates by 0.5 percentage points, with larger increases for loans on fuel-intensive vehicles and for longer maturities. Banks also shorten loan maturity, reduce amounts, and shift to linear repayments, while households choose more fuel-efficient new cars. Captive banks respond more strongly than commercial banks. Collateral and default risk channels jointly explain these adjustments, highlighting household finance as a key transmission channel of climate policy.

Angelika von Dulong(Humboldt University) and Achim Hagen (Humboldt University) shed light on what drives policy stringency, public support, and the effectiveness of different climate policy measures.