Energy Efficiency
Record Incentives for Building Renovation in Germany
Germany’s federal government will provide a further €11.5 billion for the energy efficient renovation of buildings in 2021 as part of a further package of measures to combat greenhouse gas emissions in the country’s building sector.
Oct 21, 2021
The move is part of a steering mechanism in the Climate Change Act in response to the building sector emitting two million more tons of CO2 in 2020 than the yearly maximum of 118 million tons of CO2 allowed by law.
Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy states: “We will provide another €11.5 billion for the energy efficient renovation of buildings in 2021. These are record amounts and well-invested money for climate protection and employment. The incentives are working. Homebuilders are using the incentive programs. €10.6 billion in incentives had already been approved by mid-September. We expect approvals for the whole year to total more than €15 billion, maybe even up to €18 billion. On top of that, we will make €1 billion available in 2022 for climate-friendly social housing. This will enable new highly-efficient social housing to be built or existing social housing to be renovated. We must ensure climate protection and affordable living are not a contradiction.”
The incentives will be delivered through the successful BEG “Federal Incentive for Energy Efficient Buildings” program. Applications to the BEG are at record levels:
- Applications have almost doubled in 2020 compared to the previous year, growing from 326,000 in 2019 to 600,000, pushed by the development of renewable heating, energy-efficient new buildings and both individual measures and complete renovations.
- The approved funding has risen almost fivefold, rising from €1.82 billion in 2019 to €8.56 billion in 2020.
- Applications for renewable heating incentives grew strongly from 76,000 in 2019 to 280,000 in 2020. This was especially due to bonus payments for switching from oil heating to renewable-based systems such as heat pumps, biomass or solar-thermal systems.
- The trend is continuing in 2021. By mid-September 2021, incentives totaling €10.6 billion had been approved across all the buildings incentive programs offered by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
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