Germans favour energy-efficient building modernisations, critical of higher CO2 price - survey

People in Germany are very much in favour of government support for solar thermal heating systems and heat pumps as well as building refurbishments that make homes more energy efficient, a survey conducted by research institute Kantar on behalf of the German Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF) shows. Seventy-five percent of the over 1,000 respondents said these modernisations should be “massively supported” by the government, and 59 percent said that landlords should be obliged to carry out socially acceptable energy-efficient refurbishments. Only thirty-two percent were in favour of a significant increase in the CO2 price on fossil heating fuels, such as oil and gas, and only 19 percent would want new oil and gas-fired heating systems to be banned immediately. Asked which of the parties’ chancellor candidates they would trust to simultaneously drive climate protection and economic recovery in Germany, 26 percent of the respondents named the Green Party's top candidate Annalena Baerbock, followed by Olaf Scholz (SPD, 22%), Christian Lindner (FDP, 12%) and Armin Laschet (CDU, 10%).

After introducing the CO2 price in the beginning of this year, the CDU-led government could not come to an agreement on how to split the price between landlords and tenants. Landlords – unlike the tenants – are in a position to lower these costs through insulation refurbishments. Chancellor candidates from the CDU, the SPD and the Green Party have all said that a fairer distribution of the CO2 price burden will be on the agenda in the next legislative period.