Building Modernization Act: Criticism from the Opposition | tagesschau.de | EUROtoday

As of: February 25, 2026 • 2:32 a.m

The Green and Left events have criticized the deliberate constructing modernization legislation. Trade associations are additionally involved – environmental organizations had been upset and declared that the federal government was “burying climate protection in the building sector”.

After a protracted wrestle, the federal authorities has agreed on the important thing factors of the brand new constructing modernization legislation. It is meant to interchange the earlier authorities’s Building Energy Act. While the federal government factions reward the compromise as an vital step, the opposition is upset.

“breach of trust” and “Kowling to the gas lobby”

Baden-Württemberg’s Environment Minister Thekla Walker (Greens) described the deliberate modification as a “breach of trust towards consumers, trade and municipalities”. She warned towards prolonging dependence on oil and gasoline imports, which might be “very expensive for our society.”

The local weather safety professional for the left-wing faction within the Bundestag, Violetta Bock, accused the black-red coalition of abandoning local weather targets within the constructing sector and “kneeling to the gas lobby”.

Government “buries climate protection in the building sector”

The Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW) mentioned it was to be welcomed that owners and firms might now hope for “urgently needed planning security”. However, abolishing the 65 % quota poses the danger that the local weather targets within the constructing sector is not going to be achieved. It is especially worrying that “the installation of gas and even oil heating systems with initially only relatively small organic components” remains to be doable.

The environmental safety group Greenpeace, nonetheless, complained: “With these changes, the federal government is giving the fossil fuel oil and gas industry a huge gift, massively weakening consumer protection and burying climate protection in the building sector.”

The German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation (NABU) criticized that “green gases” weren’t obtainable in adequate portions and had been additionally wanted extra urgently in different sectors comparable to business. The new legislation is “clientel politics at its best”.

“Green gas quota” as an strategy

The site visitors gentle authorities’s legislation stipulated that new heating methods should be powered by at the very least 65 % renewable power. In order to realize the local weather objectives by 2040, there ought to now be a so-called “green gas quota” as an alternative of the 65 % quota: If a gasoline or oil heating system is changed, the brand new heating system should be operated with an growing proportion of fuels comparable to biomethane and artificial gasoline, as said in the important thing factors paper.

From January 2029, this proportion ought to be at the very least ten %. “We will lay down the further increase until 2040 in three steps in the law,” introduced the parliamentary teams.

When changing a heating system, “the decision about the future type of heating rests with the owners, who already predominantly choose a heat pump or district heating when replacing the heating system,” the important thing factors paper continues. The future legislation ought to include a “technology-open catalog with all possible heating options”.