The municipality of Neubiberg is paying for its energy transition efforts: the municipality is increasing its climate protection funding program by 200,000 euros for applications received by the end of the year. The finance committee decided on Monday with a dissenting vote as a recommendation to the municipal council. For this year, the municipality had actually budgeted 250,000 euros for subsidies for private climate protection measures. “Because the program is so well received, the funds are not sufficient,” said Mayor Thomas Pardeller (CSU) at the meeting. The amount was already exhausted in July. At the end of August, 33 applications with a funding volume of around 70,000 euros were on a waiting list.
The municipality uses the program to promote, among other things, the installation of photovoltaic systems and heat pumps. Pardeller campaigned to increase the amount once this year. On the one hand, he was concerned with protecting the confidence of citizens who have already submitted an application, and on the other hand with the signal effect. It’s about creating incentives. The proposal was well received by the Greens. Second Mayor Kilian Körner said he thinks it’s a “clear, powerful sign,” especially in the current situation with increased energy costs. Finance officer Hartmut Lilge from the CSU was more skeptical: Everyone has now understood that fossil fuels must be replaced in the medium term. He pointed out that the municipality itself would have to bear significantly higher energy costs. The municipality must consider whether they can afford the additional costs.
The municipality wants to be climate-neutral by 2040
As the head of the main office, Thomas Schinabeck, explained, the municipality can obviously do this, since more than 300,000 euros that were planned for something else would not be needed this year and could therefore be reallocated. Greens parliamentary group leader Lucia Kott was irritated: The question is not what you can afford, but what you want to afford. It’s about getting people to switch. After all, the municipal council itself decided that the municipality wants to be climate-neutral by 2040. Her party friend Körner agreed and emphasized: Thanks to the funding and various events, something is finally moving among private individuals. “It was a huge effort, I think it would be good to continue now,” he said.
Pardeller maintained that the increase should not be automatic. Rather, he pleaded for readjustment in the coming year after an evaluation of the climate protection program. He also emphasized that the municipality with the program in the district is one of the municipalities that spend the most on promoting renewable energies.