German Communal Utilities See Heating Sector as Most Promising for Decarbonization

The survey found that decarbonization was the most important topic for Stadtwerke in 2020 (77 percent), followed by the consequences of the corona pandemic (45 percent) and the optimization of processes and organizational aspects (22 percent).
The study also highlights that the vast majority of the managers (85 percent) consider the transformation of Germany’s heating sector to be the biggest leverage for decarbonization. “An efficient heat supply is key to achieving the German climate goals”, stresses Metin Fidan, EY Partner and Director of EY´s energy department in Germany. “Especially the decision by the German Constitutional Court requiring emissions to drop as of 2031 has increased the pressure on all of us and there is still a lot of potential in the building sector. We will see a big renovation wave in the coming years.”

The study also found that hydrogen is expected to play an increasing role in electricity supply. Although only 19 percent of the respondents considered climate friendly gases such as hydrogen to be a particularly relevant technology now, 58 percent expect these to be particularly relevant in 5 years’ time.

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• GTAI: Energy Efficient Buildings in Germany
• Press release (in German)