As is so often the case in climate protection, while Berlin's politicians are arguing about the ban on the installation of oil and gas heating systems from 2024, facts are being created at the EU level. The European Commission is working flat out to tighten energy efficiency rules for heating systems, which – but from 2029 onwards – could result in a de facto ban on classic oil and gas heating systems throughout the EU. At least that's what a first Commission draft for new efficiency targets for heating systems provides.
Hendrik Kafsack
Economic correspondent in Brussels.
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The requirements for the so-called efficiency – which indicates how much heating energy is extracted from the energy used – are increased to such an extent that, according to the current state of the art, only heat pumps and combined heat and power plants can meet them. The draft is available to the F.A.Z. First, the magazine "Focus" had reported.
The initiative is based on the Ecodesign Directive of 2009. This allows the EU to set specific minimum requirements for the energy consumption of appliances, from televisions and PCs to washing machines and vacuum cleaners to heating systems. The EU never pronounces direct bans. At least theoretically, the specifications are technology-neutral.
Technical requirements act like prohibitions
However, it can set the requirements so high that they amount to de facto bans on certain technologies. The best-known "victim" is the classic light bulb, which no longer met the efficiency requirements for luminaires. The existing minimum requirements for heating systems date back to 2013 and therefore urgently need an "update" in the Commission's view.
The work is at an early stage. The final proposal will not be presented until the end of the year or early next year, the Commission said. The draft, drawn up by the Directorate-General for Energy – referred to as a "questionnaire" in the Commission – was intended as the basis for an initial discussion with experts and EU countries on 27 April.
Their opinion is important: against the will of the Member States, the Commission cannot adopt the proposal. How much of the now known ideas will remain in the final draft is accordingly open. One thing, however, is largely ruled out in Brussels: that the Commission will reduce the efficiency of heating systems to such an extent that it can be met by conventional oil and gas heating systems.
Otherwise, the EU could forget the goal of climate neutrality by 2050, they say. Oil and gas heating systems currently have efficiencies between 70 and 95, while pellet boilers already have an efficiency of 105. The draft, however, requires 2029 for all newly installed heating systems from 115 onwards. This means that 1.15 kilowatt hours of heat must be generated from one kilowatt hour of electricity, gas or oil.
Even if it were to remain so, a heat pump obligation could not be derived from it, according to the Commission. Even gas boilers could well have a future, for example if they ran in hybrid systems, for example in combination with solar systems or heat pumps. Ultimately, manufacturers are called upon to develop appropriate systems.
The new bill is addressed to companies
The new efficiency bills for heating systems were also not primarily aimed at apartment owners and home builders, but at industry. It has six years until 2029 to develop alternatives to heat pumps and combined heat and power.
Approval of the draft comes from the Greens in the European Parliament. "We need an efficiency hammer for new heating systems," said MP Michael Bloss. So far, customers have been fobbed off with inefficient heating systems. They would have to put a lot of money on the table for electricity, gas or pellets, but would not get enough heat out of it. "Heating is becoming a cost trap," warns Bloss.
Criticism was voiced by FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr: "In Berlin, we are talking intensively about how we can put the openness to technology in the heating law into practice so that people have as many options as possible for heating, while the CDU-led EU Commission in Brussels is planning a ban on new gas and oil heating systems." Dürr retreats to the point of view that strict requirements amount to a de facto ban. "This would mean that all our efforts at the national level would be in vain, because EU law takes precedence over German law," Dürr stressed. "I hope that CDU leader Friedrich Merz will talk to Ms. von der Leyen."
The CDU/CSU accused Dürr of unnerving people and damaging himself with his criticism. The ongoing EU procedure is taking place in close coordination between the Commission, experts and EU member states. From Berlin, the ministries of Robert Habeck (Greens) and Klara Geywitz (SPD) are involved.
"So if the FDP can't assert itself again in the traffic lights, it should stop putting up smoke screens and pointing in the direction of Brussels, that's bad style and shows the whole overload of the federal government," said the chairmen of the German Christian Democrats in the European Parliament, Angelika Niebler (CSU) and Daniel Caspary (CDU).
CDU MP Peter Liese called on the Commission to withdraw the proposal – even if it "cannot be compared with Habeck's heating ban, because firstly it is about a different timeline and secondly the proposal is much more energy-neutral than Habeck's draft". The European Parliament cannot stop the proposal. It has a right of objection. However, the EU Commission can override this. This will only change with the revision of the Ecodesign Directive, which is currently being discussed by the Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers.