Energy companies and environmental groups join forces against Germany's “green gas quota” for heating

Germany should drop plans to increase the share of green gases in heating networks as part of a law reform to clean the sector, an alliance including energy companies E.ON and EWE as well as environmental organisations BUND and DUH said. A blanket green gas quota in the buildings sector should be avoided, the group stated in an open letter seen by Tagesspiegel Background.

The unusual alliance argued that the buildings sector should primarily achieve its decarbonisation targets through electrification, district heating expansion and energy efficiency, while scarce biomethane and other green gases should be used in sectors where alternatives are technically difficult to realise or come with high costs. 

Germany’s coalition government recently agreed to reform rules around the move to clean heating, allowing households to indefinitely install oil and gas boilers while requiring suppliers to gradually increase the share of “green gas” or “green oil” in their networks to bring down fossil fuel use. The reform still needs parliamentary approval.

Climate activists have heavily criticised the government plans, which “will significantly widen” the existing gap between Germany’s national climate targets and actual emissions, according to think tank calculations. Some members of chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have raised concerns that the law reform might be unconstitutional. 

The reform to clean heating rules has been one of the most contentious climate policy debates in Germany in recent years, and the industry has long called for regulatory clarity, arguing that uncertainty has held back investment decisions.