Overview

• Only 59% of households report high readiness to act on the transition, the lowest share since the barometer began in 2018, even as 83% say the shift is important.
• Wealth disparities are stark, with the richest households using transition technologies more than three times as often as the poorest (50% versus 16%).
• KfW counts 13.5 million households already using at least one technology such as PV, solar thermal, EVs or heat pumps, with another 6% planning purchases within a year.
• KfW’s chief economist Dirk Schumacher warns that many low-income households face high cost pressure and have little room to invest.
• Policy signals add uncertainty as Minister Katherina Reiche pushes a course change that prioritizes lower costs and supply security, including scrapping the fixed PV feed-in tariff.