Overview
- Germany’s Gebäudeenergiegesetz requires new heating systems to run on 65 percent renewables, and the rule activates locally once a municipal heat plan is completed.
- Cities with more than 100,000 residents must file heat plans by June 30, 2026, which would trigger the new-installation requirement there; smaller municipalities have until June 30, 2028.
- Economic and construction ministers Katherina Reiche and Verena Hubertz plan to present reform outlines in January 2026, with a cabinet decision targeted for late February.
- The CDU seeks to loosen the 65 percent target, while the SPD argues it should be retained, and Environment Minister Carsten Schneider insists the climate effect and funding must stay.
- Press lists identify roughly 80 to 82 large cities likely to be affected from mid‑2026, and an EU renovation law is due for national transposition by 2026, with reports that Chancellor Friedrich Merz has sought a two‑year delay.