Union and SPD have agreed on a reform of the Building Energy Act. The new rule introduced by the current coalition that any new heating system must use at least 65 % renewable energy will be dropped, as will the nationwide ban on old boilers that had been tightened several times by past governments. The obligation that consumers receive advice when buying a heating system will also be removed, and municipalities with fewer than 15 000 inhabitants will no longer be required to carry out municipal heat‑planning.
Instead, from 2028 a so‑called “green‑gas quota” will apply to existing buildings. It will start at a maximum of one % and will rise regularly, so that the proportion of green hydrogen and biogas increases. New gas and oil furnaces installed from 2029 must contain ten % bio‑content. By 2040 the share is to rise again in three unspecified steps, and in 2030 the authorities will review whether the climate goals can still be met with this reform.
“Wir schaffen das Habecksche Heizungsgesetz ab” said CDU’s Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn on Tuesday evening. “The heating cellar will once again become a private matter. Citizens will once more have the freedom to decide how they heat their homes”. SPD faction leader Matthias Miersch added that the parties had entered negotiations with different visions. “The old heating law will be abolished, but a new building‑modernisation law will come” he said. “Consumers will be free to make their own decisions. Of course I will have to calculate what, in the worst case, may come my way”.
A recent study by the employer‑friendly Institute for German Economics (IW) together with the Wuppertal Institute concluded that the gas network cannot be operated in a climate‑neutral way by 2045, because sufficient biomethane and green hydrogen will not be available. The shortfall of gases could also push up prices for households that use gas heating, the Paritätische Gesamtverband warns of a “cost trap”. Scientists recommend using biomethane and green hydrogen mainly for industry and for sectors such as cement and steel production, where achieving climate neutrality is otherwise almost impossible or extremely costly.
The federal government had to replace the 65 % rule with an alternative climate‑protection measure, because by 25 March it must submit its climate‑protection programme. Under the German Climate Protection Act it must demonstrate how all interim targets up to 2040 will be met. Removing the requirement that new heating systems use at least 65 % renewable energy would, without an adequate substitute, widen the CO₂‑reduction gap by 2040.