Olaf Kosinsky, WikiMedia Commons,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet has agreed to scrap a heating law which would have introduced mandatory renewables in newbuilds and many municipal areas, according to the Reuters news agency.
The heating law, passed under the government of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, drew opposition from conservatives and some media over fears it would force households to scrap gas and oil heaters and spend thousands of euros on new green systems, Reuters said.
Under the agreement in cabinet, the heating law will be replaced by a new building modernisation law that will drop the requirement to include mandatory renewables elements. Households will be allowed to keep existing boilers if they choose not to switch to alternative systems like heat pumps, district heating and biomass systems.
The new law will however require new gas and oil systems to blend in climate-neutral fuels from 2029, increasing their level gradually from the current 10% ratio to 60% by 2040. The law, which reiterates Germany’s commitment to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, will also implement the European Union’s Buildings Directive mandating all new buildings to be zero-emission from 2030.
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (pictured) said replacing the 2023 law that required new building heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy would ease the way for companies to invest in construction and building restoration. Katherina said:
With it, we are creating investment security, we are creating planning security, we are enabling technological openness and flexibility in the choice of heating system.”
In addition to the draft heating law, the cabinet approved the creation of a market for standby power generation capacity to back up renewables as coal power generation is phased out, according to government policy.
