DRobert Habeck (Greens) sets the tone for this meeting with his first sentence: “In a certain sense, I am here in my favorite industry,” says the Federal Minister of Economics as he welcomes a group of trainees at the heating industry’s heat conference in Berlin.
The months-long political dispute over the Building Energy Act and the ongoing dissatisfaction of many citizens about it – this is not a big topic at the event on Tuesday evening. “The core of the law has remained unchanged,” says Habeck. And Jan Brockmann, President of the Federal Association of the Heating Industry and Managing Director of Bosch Thermotechnology, promises: “We deliver.”
Unlike Habeck’s original plan, the obligation to install climate-friendly heating does not come into effect in most cases at the beginning of 2024, but only when cities and districts have completed their municipal heat planning. The demand for new heating systems has already been strongly fueled by the debate.
More than a million new heaters are expected to be installed this year, and the heating association is calling it a record year. However, the industry representatives in the “Station” event hall in Berlin are not satisfied. Because the new rules for existing buildings will only come into effect everywhere from mid-2028, Brockmann fears that many customers will now probably “wait and see.” Demand for heat pumps in Europe is declining and manufacturers are planning “staffing adjustments”. “We will also take countermeasures in Germany to ensure economic viability, not in one or two years, but in one or two months.” The situation is serious.
Receivables in DIN A3 format
The associations involved in the heat conference printed out a ten-point plan with demands in DIN A3 size for Habeck. For example, they want the federal government to warn citizens more urgently about how expensive heating with gas and oil is due to rising CO2 emissions2-Price will. And they want what so many companies want these days: more government funding. Heat pumps are currently still expensive and customers’ budgets are limited.
There is therefore a need for more support “broadly and vertically,” as Brockmann puts it. Such as subsidies even if gas heating systems that are less than twenty years old are replaced. “Because we are in a recessionary environment.”
It is everyday life in Berlin that companies try to influence political decisions in their favor. That is the essence of lobbying. In this case, however, the heating industry could go overboard. As Brockmann explains the demands, Habeck’s eyes become narrower and narrower. He seems irritated. As if he asked himself: Are you serious? Even more money?
The directive is a long time coming
The SPD, Greens and FDP want to grant property owners up to 75 percent subsidies for the installation of climate-friendly heating from January 2024, as was decided at the housing summit at the end of September. In addition to the 30 percent basic subsidy, there is a speed bonus of 25 percent if the heating system is replaced in 2024 or 2025. This bonus should also be available for landlords.
There is also a social bonus for low-income owners who live in their house themselves. What bothers the industry, however, is that a maximum of 30,000 euros in costs should be recognized. And the installation of a wood pellet heating system should only be subsidized if a solar thermal system is also installed. Which makes things significantly more expensive.
The new guidelines for “federal funding for efficient buildings” should actually be ready at the beginning of October. But because the resolutions of the housing summit still have to be incorporated, it will take a little longer, says Habeck. “The funding will be available at the meeting after next of the Bundestag Budget Committee.”
Depending on how Habeck counts, that could mean next week or not until the beginning of November. And the hurdles for wood heating? Habeck’s answer to this is not clear. On the one hand, he says: “From my point of view, this is not a dogma.” But then also: “If we can reduce the amount of biomass a little, then we should use that.”
At the end, Habeck was asked by the audience why he didn’t simply double the funding for everyone who also installed a solar thermal system. His answer came promptly: “I don’t know how I’m going to scrape together the money.” The funds in the climate and transformation fund are “already a bit tight” since the subsidies for the railways and chip factories also have to be financed from it. Habeck could also have pointed out that the fund’s economic plan for 2024 already provides 19 billion euros in funding for climate-friendly buildings. But that might not have gone down well with his “favorite industry”.
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