The managing director of the German Heat‑Pump Association (BWP), Martin Sabel, criticized the federal government’s new heating law sharply. “Compared with earlier requirements, the announcements represent a clear back‑step” Sabel told the weekly papers of the Funke media group. “This creates serious uncertainty for the industry”.
He argued that politics must make up for this at the earliest possible stage in the next few years. The sector needs a clear direction so it can align the employment of skilled workers and the expansion of production capacity. “Instead, you’re forcing them into a double‑track situation” he said.
Sabel was more positive about the planned subsidies for new heating systems such as heat pumps. “Given the uncertainties around the Building Energy Act, the heating subsidies should correctly signal continuity” he added.
Under the “Black‑Red” (i.e., the CDU/CSU) plans, the new requirement that new heating installations must run at least 65 % on renewable energy is to be removed, as is the ban on older boilers that had been introduced and repeatedly tightened by preceding governments. Advisory duties involved in buying a heating system will be lifted, and municipalities with fewer than 15,000 residents will no longer be bound to municipal heat‑planning.
Instead, from 2028 a so‑called “green gas quota” of up to one percent will be introduced for existing buildings, with a regular increase so that the share of green hydrogen and biogas grows. New gas and oil heating installations will have to contain a 10 % bio‑fuel share starting in 2029, and the share will rise in three unspecified steps until 2040. The heating subsidies will be guaranteed through 2029, while in 2030 a review will determine whether the climate targets remain achievable with the reform.