D oomed to live longer: If the Union and SPD get their way, gas and oil heating will cause apartments in Germany to stay heated for much, much longer than previously planned. The Black-Red coalition wants to undo the end of fossil heating. This becomes evident from the key points recently presented for the revision of the Heating Act. One might almost be relieved that they at least refrain from proposing that installation be subsidized.
The coalition partners have agreed on a climate- and social-policy misadventure. They want to hollow out the Ampel heating law, which the SPD itself helped draft. In doing so they act rashly and without regard to real life. They want to compensate the continued approval of gas and oil heating by introducing a mixing quota with green fuels. With these measures, heating will become even more expensive than it already is.
The biogas quota leads to rising prices, consumer advocates warn. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, in 2024 around 5.3 million people could not heat their apartments as much as they would have liked for financial reasons. This number will rise if the Schwarz-Rot plans become reality. Whether there are still people in the Willy-Brandt-House who analyze why the SPD cannot climb out of the poll slump? Probably not. The selling-off by Black-Red: Citizens should again be free to decide what they do in their heating cellars.
With this logic, the government could just as well abolish all building regulations. The Union and SPD claim they want to close social divides opened by the Ampel’s heating law with the reform. The argument is already absurd because the fuss about the heating provisions has long since subsided. Tradespeople, chimney sweeps, and builders have adjusted to the new status quo. The rollback will cause enormous frustration among all those who have invested in training their staff and changing their business models.
The Union sails with its plans very close to Trumpism. It claims that the climate targets would be met with this amendment, even “overfulfilled.” But that is impossible with the new requirements—unless the climate targets are significantly lowered or postponed. By 2045 Germany must be climate-neutral, as decided by the Bundestag. Buildings today account for almost a fifth of CO2 emissions, mainly from fossil heating. The climate targets will not be met here by a long shot. Every new gas- and oil-fired heating makes emissions reductions harder. The idea that the targets will nevertheless be reached because biogas is used for heating is unrealistic.
Environment Minister as the Greeting Grandee
In addition, the quota is too small. Moreover, synthetic gas such as blue hydrogen produced from natural gas can be blended in, which does not help the climate balance. If SPD environment and climate minister Carsten Schneider does not want to be reduced to a presence as the greeting grandee at energy-saving checks or Berlinale events, he must intervene. He would have many supporters. From environmental to social, tenant and consumer organizations to industry associations—the nearly entire civil society rejects the new regulations.
The wrecking-ball approach of CDU economic minister Katharina Reiche targets not only the Ampel’s heating law. Leaks from her ministry show that she plans a general attack on the energy transition. She also intends to massively worsen the conditions for operating solar and wind power plants. This is dangerous, not only for climate protection reasons. Electricity from renewable sources is cheaper than from fossil fuels. Wind and solar installations generate electricity here and replace imports, for example from the USA, making us independent. This works only if more fossil processes are electrified. This applies to the blast furnaces in Duisburg and Salzgitter as well as to the heating basement in Aachen and Zwickau.
But Reiche’s priorities are different. The former manager of a subsidiary of the energy company E.ON is a bridgehead of the fossil energy industry in the federal government. She makes no secret of her determination to preserve the business model of the fossil industry as long as possible. That harms not only the climate but also the economy and society. Therefore it is irresponsible that no one in the government stops her.
