Geywitz against the EU and traffic light plan
The construction minister wants to overturn planned climate standards
September 23, 2023, 7:55 a.m
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Housing construction has collapsed due to high interest rates and increased construction costs. Planned tightening of energy efficiency standards will soon result in a new cost shock. Construction Minister Geywitz therefore wants to replace the plans of her own coalition with a “flexible” solution.
Building Minister Klara Geywitz is calling for a departure from planned energy saving regulations for new residential buildings and unrenovated older buildings. Instead of private houses, carbon dioxide should first be saved for climate protection by renovating public buildings, said the SPD politician before the meeting of the federal government and the housing industry in the Chancellery scheduled for Monday. “I am against using mandatory minimum efficiency standards for buildings to scare owners of unrenovated houses into having to invest tens of thousands of euros,” said Geywitz, also with a view to EU plans. A building efficiency directive is being discussed in Brussels that would require improvements, especially for houses with the worst energy values.
“We should first set a good example with public buildings, with our children’s schools, with sports halls, with town halls, fire stations and care facilities,” said Geywitz. “We have already saved quite a bit of CO2. And if we later discover that there are still too many unrenovated single-family homes, we will certainly have an answer to that.” With a view to new buildings, Geywitz clearly distanced himself from the EH40 energy saving standard that the traffic light agreed in the coalition agreement for 2025. “The current categories, the EH40 efficiency standard for example, focus too much on insulation and the required heating heat,” said Geywitz. “We should develop a simple system that promotes energy-efficient construction, the use of environmentally friendly and recycled building materials and space-saving construction. That would be an alternative to EH40.”
Geywitz argued that the definition in the coalition agreement comes from a time with lower financing and construction costs. “We urgently need to reduce construction costs. The difference in construction costs between the now valid EH55 and EH40 standards can be several hundred euros per square meter.” A flexible system is necessary. “This applies to older buildings, but also to new buildings,” said Geywitz. “Wood and other natural building materials store carbon dioxide for a long time. We need the technical freedom to say: If you store or save a lot of CO2 when building the house by using recycled materials, then you can do so later in the operational phase be more flexible in terms of energy consumption.”
Calls for help from the construction industry
The “housing construction summit” in the Chancellery on Monday will discuss how more apartments can be built quickly and cheaply. The numbers are currently declining due to high interest rates and construction costs. In the current year, only around 250,000 apartments are expected to be completed instead of the 400,000 apartments targeted by the federal government.
Representatives of the construction and real estate industry as well as the IG BAU union made urgent appeals to the government for help before the “housing construction summit”. “What we need now is a real boost so that housing construction doesn’t collapse,” said IG-BAU union leader Robert Feiger to the “Augsburger Allgemeine” newspaper. “For example, we need a special fund of 50 billion euros to build enough social housing by 2025,” demanded the trade unionist. A further 22 billion euros are needed in this legislative period in order to create apartments that are affordable for people with middle incomes.
The main association of the German construction industry is calling on the government, among other things, to reduce or temporarily suspend the property transfer tax. Energy standards for new residential buildings are to be handled more relaxed than planned. Financial support for new construction must be significantly expanded. “Without a construction package, housing construction will not get back on track in the short term,” says a paper from the association, which is available to ntv. The Federal Association of German Prefabricated Buildings is also calling for a higher income limit for new building subsidies for families. “The income limit for new construction funding must therefore be increased immediately from 60,000 euros to at least 90,000 euros for families,” said association president Mathias Schäfer. The average family must be able to finance home ownership again.