The road to climate neutrality in the building sector remains a major effort: Ambitious goals meet ongoing building and renovation backlog, rising energy and material costs, lengthy approval processes, and the great heterogeneity of the building sector. At the DIHK conference "Building Sector Transformation: Climate Neutral. Economically Feasible. Future-Proof." representatives from business and politics will discuss today (May 28) how new construction, renovation, and the heating transition can be implemented economically and sustainably despite high costs, complex rules, and a shortage of skilled workers. "Businesses are committed to the goal of climate neutrality. The key now is to make the transformation in the building sector feasible, affordable and investment-ready," says DIHK President Peter Adrian at the conference. "To achieve climate neutrality in the building sector, the right balance is needed between the necessary phased exit from fossil fuels and practical regulations." 

The federal government has recently stepped up its focus on the building sector with various legislative initiatives: Following last year's implementation of the so-called "construction turbo," further key projects and reforms have been launched in recent weeks, from the amendment of the Building Code to heating planning to the Building Modernisation Act. "The diversity of the construction and real estate industry and the major challenges in the building sector require flexible, open technology solutions," Adrian says. The Building Modernisation Act provides meaningful impulses in this regard: "It is correct that the federal government is eliminating rigid heating requirements and allowing much greater freedom of choice. For this choice to work in practice, unresolved issues, such as the design of the so-called Bio Ladder, the cost-sharing between tenants and landlords, or the development path after 2040, must be resolved quickly." At the same time, simple, practical proof and clear certification rules are needed to ensure that climate-friendly options can actually be planned. Central to this is that the federal government keeps an eye on the availability, economic viability and efficiency of climate-friendly fuels: "For biomethane and biogenic fuels, quantities and costs are not reliably plannable today. The federal government must act quickly; otherwise, gas and oil heating will become a cost trap," Adrian adds.

In principle, EU requirements, such as those of the Building Efficiency Directive, must be implemented in Germany without national tightening, and existing scope for simple and practical regulations must be used. "We support the goal of climate neutrality in the building sector, but implementation must be oriented towards technical and economic feasibility," Adrian says. "The second European emissions trading system should be able to work effectively as a market-based and technology-neutral instrument for the building sector and should not be slowed down by ambitious national special regulations." At the European level, the federal government should also work to ensure more practicable requirements. Otherwise, excessive building standards, renovation and solar obligations might threaten. This could lead to significant investment risks for companies. "Equally important is accelerating procedures: approvals and planning must become faster, more digital, and more reliable, or the heating transition will fail due to time and bureaucracy."

The goal must be a holistic and affordable transformation of the building sector. "Reliable and legally secure framework conditions are now critical to quickly create planning security for companies. Important regulatory decisions must not be postponed again for months, even years."