German liberals signal discontent with new EU green buildings law

A newly-adopted compromise on the EU’s new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is already being met with some scepticism from German lawmakers, who fear that the law will interfere with domestic rules.

On late Thursday, EU negotiators struck a deal on the bloc’s new green buildings law. The watered-down compromise features a 2040 fossil boiler ban and has already sparked ire amongst German liberals – who’d been instrumental in the law’s neutering in the first place and have held a long-standing opposition to the proposal. 

“The German government has succeeded in defusing the EU Buildings Directive. There will no longer be an obligation to renovate buildings,” said Daniel Föst, building policy spokesman of the business-friendly freedom party (FDP, Renew) on Friday (8 December).

But one key aspect of the compromise – the 2040 fossil boiler ban – does not sit well with his party. 

“In the [German government] coalition, we agreed on an end to fossil-fuelled heating systems from 2045,” the liberal politician stressed. “The EU Buildings Directive must not be allowed to thwart German laws,” he added. 

However, this is not the first time in 2023 that Germany’s fossil boiler phase-out rules have influenced Brussels’ policymaking. 

Previously, the European Commission eyed a bloc-wide ban on purely fossil heaters from 2029. This was quickly scuttled after frenzied intervention from Berlin – backed by a host of EU countries.

According to Föst, the German approach is superior. “The dovetailing of municipal heating planning, generous heating subsidies and the Building Energy Act [which bans fossil heaters in Germany] is a sensible concept,” he said.

The watering down of the EU’s buildings directive was similarly welcomed by the German buildings minister, Klara Geywitz (SPD, S&D). 

The outcome “is geared towards reality and does not overtax either the family in a detached house in the countryside or the master baker with a small bakery and salesroom”, AFP quoted Geywitz as saying.

Landlord association Haus und Grund called the deal a “good result”, adding that policymakers should now opt for comprehensive CO2 pricing with redistribution mechanisms.

Others bemoaned the contrasting words and actions. While Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged countries to double energy efficiency improvements at COP28 in Dubai, energy efficiency association DENEFF said: “The German government seemed to be acting more as a brake on ambition in the negotiations surrounding the EU Buildings Directive.” 

Nature NGO NABU explained that “the ambitious targets set at the start of the negotiations have now been softened – partly due to Germany’s intervention.”

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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