Berlin: District heating buyback must be the starting signal for a sustainable heat transition!
Berlin, 21.03.2024: Today, the Berlin House of Representatives decides on the acquisition of Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG. PowerShift would welcome the remunicipalisation of Berlin's district heating supply. However, the state of Berlin is also acquiring a major transformation task. Because Vattenfall Wärme AG still heats almost exclusively with fossil fuels.
The decarbonisation roadmap submitted by the company does not deserve this name. In order for district heating in Berlin to become climate-friendly and remain affordable, a new plan is needed that consistently exploits all waste heat, environmental heat, geothermal energy and heat storage potentials and recognises that the use of biomass, waste and hydrogen is not climate-friendly and must be kept to a minimum. Otherwise, Berlin threatens to miss its climate targets and continue to become dependent on fuels, the import of which from the Global South threatens the development goals there.
Neelke Wagner, Climate and Resource Justice Officer at PowerShift:
"To ensure that the heat transition is not planned past the citizens and the climate, we call for the inclusion of civil society groups in the Senate Administration's stakeholder circle for the heat transition. In addition, a transparent, democratic planning process that draws on the expertise of civil society in the areas of climate, environmental and consumer protection. The Berlin heat transition will only be a success if it is consistently geared towards climate protection and social justice.”
Background:
Together with more than 200 other civil society groups from all over Germany, PowerShift co-signed the open letter ‘Do not use hydrogen!’. The production of hydrogen is energy-intensive and its use in the heat supply only makes sense for peak loads. Biomass is also a valuable raw material that is only available to a very limited extent. Wood burning is also a mortgage on the future – it takes decades to centuries for the CO2 released by the combustion to be rebound by renewable trees. The possibilities for waste incineration are also limited. Berlin has a zero-waste strategy, the amount of waste must be reduced. Prevention, reuse and recycling take precedence.
- Open letter hydrogen: https://umweltinstitut.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Offener-Brief_Kostenfalle-Wasserstoff_05.pdf
- Biomass paper: https://www.nabu.de/imperia/md/content/nabude/energie/240220-nabu-holzverbrennung-infopapier-berlin.pdf
- Potential study: https://www.berlinerneuerbar.de/potenzialstudie-klimaneutrale-waermeversorgung-berlin-2035/
- Berlin: Focus on the energy and raw materials transition: https://power-shift.de/rohstoffwende-berlin/
Contact:
- Neelke Wagner, Climate and Resource Justice Officer at PowerShift e.V., Mobile: +49(0) 1575 2466 920, neelke.wagner@power-shift.de
