Activists dismayed as Germany to scrap limits on fossil fuel heating

The German government on Wednesday passed a measure to allow the installation of fossil fuel-based heating systems in new buildings, causing fury among environmental groups. 

The move to scrap a key provision of the previous administration's landmark heating law was approved by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Cabinet and is expected to be voted on in the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament - before the summer recess begins in mid-July. 

Overturning the requirement for new heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy, the new bill authorizes gas to be used to heat new buildings with the provision that an increasing proportion of CO2-neutral fuels, such as biomethane, be used from 2029.

A provision stipulating that, from 2045, boilers may no longer be operated with fossil fuels has been dropped.

The measures have been met with dismay from activists, with the Fridays for Future movement demonstrating outside the Chancellery in Berlin on Wednesday. 

Activist Nele Evers described the reform as irresponsible. "No amount of mathematics in the world can achieve climate targets if new fossil fuel heating systems are still allowed to be installed after 2045," she said. "Climate targets are being deliberately and knowingly scrapped, and the interests of the gas lobby are being prioritized over our right to a future."

Matthias Miersch from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are in coalition with Merz's conservatives, said the new bill is "firmly integrated with the Climate Protection Act and the goal of climate neutrality by 2045."