Is Germany's new government weakening climate protection? – DW – 05/24/2025
When Katherina Reiche of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), took over from her predecessor, Robert Habeck of the Green Party, as the new Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, she had warm words for him. That was surprising. During Germany's recent federal election campaign, Habeck had been flooded with criticism from conservative politicians. The head of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Söder, for example, repeatedly complained about the "worst economics minister of all time."
Reiche's view differed. She recalled how Habeck had managed the post-pandemic energy crisis, after Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine, in the spring of 2022: "I would like to thank you for that almost superhuman achievement," Reiche said. Habeck contributed to "this country getting through this crisis," even with his unpopular policy decisions. The Ministry of Economic Affairs staff responded with prolonged applause, and Habeck was visibly moved.
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Abolishing 'Habeck's' law on heating
In the meantime, Reiche is working towards amending Habeck's most important law: the "Building Energy Act" (popularly known in Germany as the Heating Law), she wants to dismantle its substance almost entirely. That goal is indeed clearly stated in the new coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU, and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD): "We will abolish the Building Energy Act."
Habeck, who was also responsible for climate protection, attempted to tackle one of the key weaknesses in German climate policy during his time in government from 2021 to the beginning of May 2025: While the expansion of renewable energies such as solar and wind is progressing, Germans still predominantly heat their homes with climate-damaging natural gas.
The Building Energy Act was intended to promote the installation of new, environmentally friendly heat pumps in homes and set end dates for operating old gas heating systems. However, the law caused a great deal of resentment, and critics accused the Greens of interfering in Germans' boiler rooms.
Reiche now wants to change the law. On the podcast, Table Today, she said that the law in its current form more or less prescribes just one technology: the heat pump. "There is a de facto operating ban on gas boilers installed before 1991," said the CDU politician. "First of all, we need to abolish this operating ban in order to restore calm to the market."
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After initial problems, the installation of heat pumps has recently picked up significantly. In the first three months of this year, sales in Germany rose by 35% year-on-year to 62,000 units. The German Heat Pump Association announced in a press release. The managing director of the organization, Martin Sabel, spoke of "light at the end of the tunnel." The state subsidy of up to 70% of the costs is now "established," the association expects sales of 260,000 heat pumps for the year.
Habeck's dream of 500,000 heat pumps per year
That demonstrates how bold Habeck's original ideas were. In 2022, he stated that his target was the installation of around 500,000 new heat pumps each year. "The market is gradually gaining momentum because people are realizing that it makes sense to move away from fossil fuels," Sabel said in an interview with Der Spiegel.
Reiche also announced that securing the energy supply is now a priority for the government in addition to climate protection. That will include constructing new gas-fired power plants with a total capacity of around 20 gigawatts. Gas is more environmentally friendly than coal, which Germany wants to phase out by 2038 and still supplies around 20% of German electricity. For that reason, the previous government had also supported the construction of gas-fired power plants — albeit not to the extent mentioned by Reiche.
Germany's heat pump makers look to expand at home and abroad
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Reiche's plans 'completely oversized'
Reiche's gas plans drew the attention of energy expert Claudia Kemfert from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). In the Bavarian Media Group's newspapers, Kemfert said the plans are "completely oversized," adding that "Hydropower, making the energy system more flexible and the use of increasingly cost-effective large-scale batteries would also be viable alternatives."
According to Martin Kaiser, climate expert for the environmental group Greenpeace, Germany should finally break the fossil fuel chains that tie the country to expensive fossil fuel imports. "Instead of making Germany more independent by accelerating the expansion of renewables, Katherina Reiche wants to steer us into new fossil dependencies," Kaiser said.
So, does climate protection no longer play a significant role in the new government? Even if critics suspect this, Germany took a decisive step for climate protection in the coming years even before Friedrich Merz was elected Chancellor: The new government decided on a gigantic investment program for infrastructure of €500 billion ($565 billion).
However, Germany's Basic Law had to be amended for this, which is why the CDU, CSU and SPD also needed the votes of the Greens. And they succeeded in ensuring that €100 billion of the €500 billion would be spent on climate protection. Some observers spoke of the Greens' greatest success at the end of their time in government.
High expectations of the new environment minister
Less at the center of the debate is the new Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, who is now also responsible for international climate protection in the new government. Martin Kaiser has clear expectations of the SPD politician. "He rightly sees German climate foreign policy as an essential part of security policy. Schneider wants to, and must save global climate protection in foreign policy — despite Trump."
Minister Schneider must now draw up a climate protection program by the end of the year, which will oblige his colleagues in the cabinet to take immediate action." However, it remains to be seen whether Schneider will get the chance to do that within the cabinet against the strong force of Economics Minister Reiche.
This article was originally written in German.
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