The Munich city council is largely in agreement on the issue of climate policy. On Wednesday, the CSU only criticized details of the green-red templates; only the FDP and Free Voters voted against it. This means that the “climate budget” of around 620 million euros has been approved for the next few years, and that 200 million euros will go towards the energy-efficient renovation of urban residential buildings.
“We are so happy with this draft resolution,” said Dirk Höppner (Munich List) about the plan to transfer 200 million euros to the future municipal company Münchner Wohnen for the next three years. This is “a really good day for the climate”. The municipal housing association with around 69,000 apartments, which was created in January from GWG and Gewofag, has the task of renovating to Efficiency House Standard 55 if possible; this also applies to new buildings. This means that a house then only uses 55 percent of the energy of a legally defined standard house. This level was important to the Greens in the negotiations within the coalition. Deviations from this may only be made in exceptional cases.
“It is a big task and we are aware of it,” said Simone Burger (SPD). She appealed to Münchner Wohnen to involve its tenants well in the renovations and to take them along with them. Anna Hanusch (Greens) emphasized that not only the climate but also the tenants benefit from the renovations: this reduces the additional costs for energy. At the same time, it made it clear that the Greens also see a goal as ambitious: the annual renovation rate of four percent of the existing building. “That’s a big deal.”
This is where FDP parliamentary group leader Jörg Hoffmann began his criticism: the targeted renovation rate was “completely unrealistic”. In the private sector, people are happy with two percent, a maximum of three. It’s not a good day, said Hoffmann, with a view to the city’s finances: You can wish for a lot, a renovated Gasteig, functioning local transport, a renovated Olympic center, a new market hall – but the coalition also has to explain how it wants to pay for everything . She hasn’t done that yet.
While the FDP rejected the restructuring program, the CSU largely agreed with it. Heike Kainz spoke out in favor of the EH55 standard and supported the plan to carry out the renovations in inhabited houses if possible. This saves many tenants from having to move.
51 million euros for new trees
The climate budget involves even larger sums: the city is providing 620 million euros by 2026, which has been included in the multi-year investment program. The aim is to finance a colorful bouquet of measures that are intended to reduce CO₂ emissions in Munich: taxi operators if they buy an electric car, as well as the natural redesign of playgrounds in schools; fast charging stations at the Olympic Park as well as a municipal “components exchange” to reuse material from demolished houses. The largest items go to neighborhood work (145 million euros), which is intended to make individual city districts more climate-friendly, and to planting 3,500 trees (51 million).
Fritz Roth (FDP) criticized the fact that no figures were presented to the city council about the effectiveness of the individual measures. This is the only way to set priorities and spend money effectively. Julia Schmitt-Thiel (SPD) said that she would also like exact figures. That’s why the climate budget is also used to finance “climate monitoring” in order to know more about the effect in the future.
The vast majority of the climate budget is earmarked for the Energy-Neutral Buildings (FKG) funding program: around 300 million euros by 2026. Around half of this should be available for private owners, the other part for the Munich municipal housing and for cooperatives.