The Building Modernization Act, which is set to replace the controversial heating law of the former traffic-light coalition, will be debated in the Bundesrat for the first time today. The core of the new regulation is the elimination of the 65-percent renewable energy requirement for new heating systems. Instead, fossil fuel heating systems will remain permitted, but the share of climate-neutral fuels is to increase gradually.
Schleswig-Holstein, governed by a black-green coalition, fundamentally rejects the draft. The law slows down the heat transition and prolongs dependence on fossil fuel imports, according to a motion from the state. There is also a risk that not enough biomass will be available to increase the share of climate-neutral fuels – with consequences for supply security, climate targets, and affordability. Hamburg also criticizes the draft: the city’s urban development authority laments the loss of control options and demands more leeway for state-specific rules. Hamburg’s green-led environmental authority advocates in its own motion for a ban on operating fossil fuel heating systems from 2045 – supported by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment.
Lower Saxony’s red-green state government has not yet agreed on a unified position. While the green-led Ministry of the Environment emphasizes the social consequences for tenants, the SPD-led Ministry of Economic Affairs relies on incentives such as promoting heat pumps rather than bans. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the Greens are not in government, welcomes the replacement of the traffic-light law as more technology-open and flexible, but still sees bureaucratic hurdles. The Bundesrat will decide this morning which of the nearly 70 proposed amendments from the committees will be forwarded to the federal government. The law is scheduled to be finally passed by the Bundestag and Bundesrat in early July.
Source: www.ndr.de
