Joint press release on the decarbonisation roadmap of Berliner Energie und Wärme GmbH (BEW)
- Get out of the burning of resources faster!
- Environmental organizations comment on Berlin's plan for more climate-friendly heating
Berlin, 26.05.2026: The environmental and climate protection organisations NABU, Biofuelwatch, ROBIN WOOD, PowerShift, Gesellschaft für Klima und Demokratie and Deutsche Umwelthilfe comment on the new edition of BEW's decarbonisation roadmap for Berlin's district heating supply with the following statements:
NABU, Eric Häublein:
“With the decarbonisation roadmap, BEW is presenting its own transformation path for district heating for the first time after the takeover of the grids and power plants. It is now clear that BEW continues to rely on incineration technologies such as wood and waste incineration on a large scale. Although the first important steps towards decarbonisation are being taken and the cancellation of the wood-fired power plant in Klingenberg, which came about under pressure from civil society, is a success, the BEW and the Senate still lack the courage to take new paths and focus more on large-scale heat pumps and geothermal energy. Especially in the eastern part of the city, the actual renewable potential should be determined as soon as possible in order to promote development.”
Biofuelwatch, Almuth Ernsting:
“The Senate continues to rely on a new wood-fired CHP plant in Reuter West and an increasing share of biomass – up to 15 percent wood biomass from 2045 onwards. When burning wood, no less CO2 is released than when burning coal, i.e. the climate crisis is also fuelled by it. Intensive logging is a major reason why the amount of CO2 stored in trees continues to decline. Wood energy is considered ‘climate neutral’ only because of controversial international rules under which CO2 emissions from bioenergy are accounted for in the land-use sector and not in the energy sector.”
ROBIN WOOD, Jana Ballenthien:
“How Berlin is shaping the heat transition as a cosmopolitan city has a signalling effect for other major cities in Europe. So far, Berlin continues to rely on combustion technologies. The unexpected turn to overturn the construction of a wood-fired power plant at the Klingenberg site shows us that our protest is working. However, the incineration of waste now planned there (nothing else is ‘replacement fuels’) is not a climate-friendly solution and contradicts Berlin’s zero waste strategy. ROBIN WOOD demands a climate-friendly and social heat transition from BEW. This includes stopping the plans to burn wood at the Reuter West site!”
PowerShift, Neelke Wagner:
‘BEW continues to calculate unrealistically large quantities of hydrogen combustion from 2035 onwards, thus relabelling fossil-fuelled power plants as ‘innovative’. This cements Berlin's dependence on fossil gas. Burning green hydrogen for heat production is highly inefficient compared to heat pumps and therefore inevitably expensive: one solution at most for the peak load. In addition, the hope of being able to import large quantities of cheap hydrogen soon comes at the expense of the Global South, where large-scale hydrogen projects provoke water and land conflicts. A responsible decarbonisation roadmap would be different.”
German Environmental Aid, Judith Grünert:
“BEW’s decarbonisation roadmap shows the limits of district heating when it comes to achieving genuine climate neutrality: The BEW apparently sees no chance of renouncing the burning of wood and hydrogen. However, combustion is neither climate-neutral nor ecologically meaningful; the availability of green hydrogen is unclear. Instead, decarbonisation must be put on truly climate-friendly feet. For this, electrification must be given a much higher priority. However, it is not enough to expect a scenario with a little more electricity share. A commitment by the BEW, but above all by the Berlin Senate, is needed to largely dispense with fuels and to remove barriers to electrification. In the end, however, one has to face a truth: The large net as it is may not be fully decarbonized at all. On the basis of the potential, a healthy shrinking of district heating and the development of decentralised, smaller heating networks must also be discussed.”
Society for Climate and Democracy, Björn Obmann:
“We also pushed through the re-municipalisation of BEW because we want binding participation instruments. Participation and acceptance are a critical requirement for the success of the heat transition – they have so far been neglected. With the dialogue process, BEW has taken an important first step. A permanent stakeholder advisory board involving civil society, academia and citizens is now needed. Conflicts come to the table early, solutions are widely supported and the strategy is further developed in a transparent manner – so that Berlin's heat transition can be achieved in a sustainable and socially just manner.”
Further information can also be found in the demand paper of the alliance Berlin Renewable for the election of members of parliament 2026: https://www.berlinerneuerbar.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Forderungen-zur-Wahl-2026.pdf
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
- NABU: Eric Häublein, Bioenergy Officer, Mobil +49 (0) 162 269 4781, Eric.haeublein@NABU.de
- PowerShift: Neelke Wagner, Climate and Resource Justice Officer, Mobile +49 (0)1575 2466 920
- Biofuelwatch: Almuth Ernsting, Co-Director, Mobil +44-7930227525, E-Mail biofuelwatch@gmail.com
- ROBIN WOOD: Jana Ballenthien, Fachreferentin Wald, Mobil +49 (0)40-38089211, E-Mail wald@robinwood.de
- German environmental aid: Newsroom, Tel. 030-2400867-20, E-Mail presse@duh.de
- Society for Climate and Democracy: Björn Obmann, Campaigner, Mobil +49 (0)171 1700 272, bjoern.obmann@klima-und-demokratie.de
