The parties of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government have agreed on details of a new domestic heating law, which has been causing tensions in the coalition for months.
The general aim of the new law is the replacement of heating systems that use gas and other fossil fuels with more environmentally friendly ones.
However, one of the junior partners in Scholz’s coalition government, the pro-business FDP, had delayed the process by calling for improvements – particularly for the possibility of hydrogen-powered gas heating to be emphasized more strongly.
A meeting of the heads of the parliamentary groups of the chancellor’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the FDP has now clarified the outstanding issues, coalition sources told dpa on Tuesday.
Up until now the coalition partners had only agreed on rough guidelines for amending the original draft bill, but the deal means that the bill will now be finalized. Details of the agreement were initially still unclear.
The SPD parliamentary group confirmed that an agreement had been reached, and that it had “now asked the [responsible] ministries to adapt the texts so that all parliamentary groups will receive them in time before the further hearing.” More details would follow on Thursday, it said.
The coalition parties are aiming for the Building Energy Act – the so-called Heating Act – to be passed by parliament before the summer recess, which begins on July 8.
In mid-June a top-level meeting of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP agreed on amendments – dubbed “guard rails” – to the draft bill passed by the Cabinet. In essence, they provide for more time for many German homeowners to replace their heating systems.
However, many points were still left open – for example, what the planned state subsidy would look like and how exactly the exemption rules for heating system replacement would be structured. According to the guard rails, there is also to be another modernization levy, with which landlords can pass on costs to tenants.
It was also unclear what would happen if someone were to install a gas heating system that could generally be converted to hydrogen, but their municipality did not plan a gas network suitable for this at a later date.
From 2024, according to the draft law, every newly installed heating system in Germany should be powered by at least 65% green energy. However, functioning heating systems do not have to be replaced, and defective heating systems may also be repaired.
The changeover is to be socially cushioned by state subsidies. Transition periods and hardship provisions are also envisaged.
Courtesy of dpa