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About the Document
This is a report titled "Soziale Aspekte der Gebäude-Energiewende. Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten" (Social Aspects of the Building Energy Transition: Challenges and Opportunities), published by the Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) in cooperation with the Öko-Institut e.V. It is dated June 2024 and was written by authors from dena and the Öko-Institut, with a concept and editorial team from dena. Its subject is how households in Germany bear housing and heating costs and how this connects to climate policy.
Household Heating Burdens
- The report divides German households into three income groups: the 30 percent with low incomes, the middle 40 percent, and the 30 percent with high incomes.
- Low-income households spend a markedly higher share of income on housing including heating energy than wealthier households, both for tenants and owner-occupiers.
- Gas cost on average more than twice as much in 2022 as in 2021, rising from about seven to over 16 cents/kWh, according to the report.
- The report estimates that about 3.1 million of roughly 43 million households are affected by energy poverty under its combined indicator.
Structural Factors
- Low-income owner-occupiers more often live in older buildings, which the report says have poorer thermal insulation and significantly higher costs.
- A worked example compares an unrenovated 150 m² house with heating costs of 3,180 euros per year against a renovated house with a heat pump at 786 euros per year.
- Over 8 percent of people in 2023 reported being unable to heat their home adequately, compared with 3 percent in 2021, according to the report.
Climate Policy Context
- The report states that buildings account for about 15 percent of Germany's emissions under the Climate Protection Act, and roughly 30 percent of total CO2 emissions when electricity and district heating are included.
- It notes that four in five heating systems in existing buildings are fossil-fuelled, nearly 20 years before the target of climate neutrality.
- It describes the legal framework, including the EPBD, the EED, the Building Energy Act (GEG) and the Heat Planning Act, and the planned CO2 pricing from 2027.
Options and Landlord-Tenant Issues
- The report distinguishes behavioural changes, low-investment measures and structural investments, and identifies building envelope and heating as having the greatest potential.
- It explains the modernisation levy and the principle of warm-rent neutrality, using a calculated multi-family example in which the warm rent falls by 1.6 percent.
- It highlights that many retirees struggle to obtain loans for renovations.
Support Instruments
- The report reviews the federal funding programme BEG, a new income bonus for heating replacement from 2024, and comparisons with France's MaPrime Rénov' and a North Rhine-Westphalia housing programme.
- It argues that a renovation subsidy of 20 percent weighs far more heavily on low-income households, and that income-graded support could have a greater effect.
Why It Matters for Urban Policy
The document addresses policymakers, decision-makers and those involved in the building energy transition, and presents its factual base so that a socially fair design of heating and building renovation can be discussed and planned.