SPD boss Klingbeil wants to stick to the schedule for the controversial heating law – but promises changes. The coalition partners also see a need for improvement. Climate researchers, on the other hand, are calling for a complete restart.
In the traffic light coalition’s dispute over the new heating law, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has promised changes to the planned amendment to the building energy law. In the Report from Berlin Klingbeil admitted that the so-called heating law passed by the traffic light coalition could still be improved before it is passed in parliament.
Klingbeil: “There will be changes again”
“As the SPD, we have a clear direction: the law should be passed before the summer break, the citizens need clarity about what will happen from January 1, 2024,” said Klingbeil. According to Klingbeil, there are still a few things to focus on, citing, for example, the protection of tenants, the age limit of 80, social graduations and municipal heating networks. One could also talk about the transition periods. “There will be changes again,” says Klingbeil.
The SPD leader spoke of a “heated debate” to which politics also contributed. “The uncertainty is great,” admitted Klingbeil. You want to make sure that nobody feels abandoned: “No one is left behind, everyone is taken along.”
Greens also want changes
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt had previously warned against postponing the law to replace oil and gas heating with climate-friendly heat sources. The Greens politician also called for corrections to the draft to the newspapers of the Funke media group. So there must be a subsidy for the installation of climate-friendly heating that is graded according to income. Nobody should be forced to sell their house.
There shouldn’t be any major burdens for tenants either, she said. “That’s why we want to subsidize the new heating system by up to 80 percent – and not only up to a maximum of 50 percent as planned in the current draft.” The Green politician rejected further exceptions to the exchange obligation. More funding for those who need it is better than more exceptions.
In this context, Göring-Eckardt also complained about the lack of support from Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “It’s hard for me to recognize a climate chancellor,” she said. If you as a government initiate such a major project, you have to support it together. The traffic light is a long way from that, according to the politician.
Wissing demands “careful revision”
In the case of the heating law, one saw what it means “if one tries to do climate protection with one’s head through the wall” – one loses the population in the process, said Transport Minister Volker Wissing, also in the Report from Berlin. You have to proceed in such a way that people are taken along and you need their trust, said the FDP politician.
He was in favor of the law being “carefully revised,” Wissing said. In addition, communication needs to be improved. Apparently, the procedure so far has led to “considerable irritation” and resistance from the population, which is “the worst thing that can happen to you”. People shouldn’t be overwhelmed.
Scholz sees no fundamental need for change
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz thinks improvements to the bill are conceivable, but no major changes are to be made in the core. In an interview with ntv and RTL, Scholz said that the Bundestag is now looking at whether the law can be made more precise at one point or another.
“However, I assume that the basic structure will not be changed. Instead, it must be done in such a way that nobody is overwhelmed economically and socially.” Many precautions have already been taken for this. It is now a normal parliamentary procedure, he said with a view to possible changes.
The largest opposition faction in the Bundestag still does not believe in the traffic light plans. The deputy leader of the Union faction, Jens Spahn, said in an interview with the BR, In his view, the coalition is rushing to tackle the heating law. “It’s like saying: From January 1st, only electric cars will be sold in Germany,” says Spahn – regardless of whether the infrastructure is there or you can afford it.
Climate researchers for a new start
Instead of improvements, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research calls for a complete restart of the law. “My recommendation to the traffic light would be to take a deep breath, take a step back and try again for the heating transition,” said institute director Ottmar Edenhofer of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. At the same time, he suggested focusing on national emissions trading. That is smarter than the ban and bid policy. The traffic light got tangled up in climate protection, said the climate economist. “There is a simple, almost elegant way out of the heating dilemma, and that is through national trading in certificates for fuel emissions.”
In the so-called Fuel Emissions Trading Act, an upper limit for emissions could be set, which would make heating with gas more expensive step by step, but significantly so. The price increase could be capped to protect citizens from price shocks. With the law, the government already has all legal options in its hands, said Edenhofer. He is convinced that clear communication about heating would be accepted by the population. The government must explain to people why heating with gas has to become more expensive, what price increases are to be expected and who is protected from the price increases with which refunds. Then people would switch to less CO2-intensive heating systems of their own accord, according to the climate researcher.
coalition dispute about heating law
The draft law that has already been passed by the Federal Cabinet stipulates that from 2024 onwards every newly installed heating system should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy. This should apply to all owners up to the age of 80. Existing oil and gas heating systems can continue to be operated, and broken ones can be repaired. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the switch should be cushioned socially by funding.
The Greens want to pass the law in the Bundestag as quickly as possible, but the FDP is putting the brakes on it. The SPD, in turn, wants to start parliamentary deliberations quickly, but then make changes.
With information from Mario Kubina, ARD capital studio