German municipality heating planning advances as mid-year deadline looms

Local heating planning is making progress across Germany with the legally mandated June deadline for municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants looming, according to a report by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). 

A strategic heating plan outlines how local heat supply can be made climate-friendly, efficient, and as independent as possible from fossil fuels. Municipal heat planning remains a key focus in Germany's aim to become climate-neutral by 2045. Of the 83 major cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, 38 already had a completed heat plan by the end of 2025. 

"If the pace of municipal heat planning continues at the current rate, half the population could be living in a municipality with a completed heat plan by mid-2026," said BBSR researcher Andrea Arnold-Drmic. The plans need to serve as a realistic basis for the next steps in the local energy transition, she added.

With the June deadline, an increased number of finalised plans is expected in the coming months as all 83 major municipalities aim to meet it. By the end of 2025, 29 percent of Germany’s population, or 24.2 million people, already lived in municipalities with completed heat plans, according to the report. While large municipalities must submit their plans by 30 June, smaller ones have until mid-2028. Overall, 1,359 municipalities (around 13 percent) had already completed their heat plans by the end of December 2025, while a further 5,157 (around 48 percent) had begun developing plans by that time. 

Many of the planning measures were developed through inter-municipal cooperation, encompassing heat planning for several municipalities – a model favoured by many smaller communities.