Germany must prioritise energy-efficient renovation of public buildings – associations

Germany must finally prioritise the energy-efficient renovation of public buildings, a group of associations said in a joint appeal. Schools, town halls, and daycare centres across Germany are “dilapidated in many places” and “inadequately equipped to meet the challenges of achieving a climate neutral building stock”, said heating industry association BDH, technical building equipment industry association BTGA, energy efficiency group DENEFF, labour union GEW, and sanitary, heating, and air conditioning association ZVSHK.

Public buildings offer particularly high potential for climate protection in the buildings sector, the associations said. However, decades of underfunding had led to a renovation backlog amounting to over 215 billion euros, they calculated.

The associations called on the government to earmark money from the special 500 billion euro infrastructure and climate neutrality fund to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings, and to support municipal investment through public procurement law. “It's not just about buildings – it's about modern and sustainable infrastructure for the people of Germany,” they said.

Rising carbon prices in the buildings sector – a levy on the burning of fossil fuels like gas and oil for heating – would significantly increase the operating costs of unrenovated buildings in future, the group said. Investments made today therefore would reduce costs in the long term, they added.

A 2024 report by the German Energy Agency (dena) found that if energy efficiency measures in public buildings – such as refurbishments of heating systems and insulation – continued at today’s rate and by the current minimum standards, public buildings would not reach climate neutrality by 2045. Public building modernisation should become a role model for the private sector, said dena at the time.