EU Parliament gives boost to UN climate summit in Katowice and puts German government under pressure
Published
Germanwatch welcomes MEPs' call for a higher EU climate target for 2030 and greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050 at the latest
Bonn (25 October 2018). The European Parliament is stepping up the pace on climate action. MEPs today gave the EU negotiating delegation for the UN climate summit in Katowice in December a mandate in which they call for the EU to raise its greenhouse gas reduction target from the current 40 per cent (below 1990 levels) to 55 per cent. The parliamentarians are aiming for greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050 at the latest, which would mean reducing emissions to almost zero. "We are pleased that the MPs are responding directly to the findings of the latest IPCC report on the 1.5-degree target," says Christoph Bals, Political Director of Germanwatch. "This is a wake-up call for the German government. The Grand Coalition should now finally support the European Parliament, the European Commission and the progressive member states in raising the EU climate targets for 2030 and 2050. The success of the upcoming climate summit in Poland will depend in part on whether the EU comes forward," said Bals.
The European Parliament supports the climate targets that the plaintiffs in the People's Climate Case are also calling for to protect their fundamental rights. The European legislator's response is eagerly awaited these days. Christoph Bals: "We hope that the forthcoming response by the European Parliament and the Council will also be characterised by this new departure in climate policy."
In the People's Climate Case, people affected by climate change are petitioning the EU to raise its climate targets.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) is expanding its funding for fuel cell heating systems. With immediate effect, you can apply to KfW for attractive subsidies for the installation of fuel cell heating systems in both all residential and non-residential buildings. Private individuals, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises (including contractors) as well as municipal and non-profit organisations are eligible to apply.
The subsidy is available for fuel cell heating systems with an electrical output of up to 5 kW that are installed either as part of a refurbishment or a new build. Depending on the electrical output, a subsidy of up to 28,200 euros per installed fuel cell is possible.
The aim of extending the funding is to establish the pioneering fuel cell technology for supplying electricity and heat in buildings on a broad market. Fuel cell heating systems are significantly more efficient than conventional combined heat and power systems. The natural gas or biogas used is utilised much more efficiently, which also leads to lower CO2 emissions.
Grant funding for fuel cell heating systems is part of the German government's "Energy Efficiency Incentive Programme". It supplements the existing KfW programmes for energy-efficient construction and renovation. Since the programme was launched in August 2016, the installation of over 900 fuel cell heating systems, primarily in detached and semi-detached houses, has been supported with grants of around 13 million euros.
"How do we want to live in our city and in our neighbourhood? We asked ourselves these questions at the planning workshop "Viva Werkstatt". The aim was to collect ideas for the careful development of the Viktoriaviertel. The neighbourhood is to become lively again and the urban areas are to be converted for the common good.
Among the more than 20 participants were architects, urban planners, residents, representatives of the local retail trade and gastronomy, and interested citizens of Bonn."
On 30.6. the field test started in Herten, North Rhine-Westphalia. For one year, scientists coordinate the operation of three combined heat and power plants with the use of three heat pumps, a PV system, a large lithium-ion storage unit and a private electric storage heating system to balance the PV and wind feed-in.
For this purpose, the combined heat and power plants use the heat storage capacity of the connected consumers: a leisure pool, an indoor swimming pool and a local heating network. Current weather forecasts are used to calculate optimal schedules for the individual plants. These schedules are sent to the plants via the internet and implemented on site. The loads on the electricity grid can also be taken into account, so that the much-discussed expansion of power lines in the electricity grid can be reduced in the long term.
Source: The city as a repository on
(the website was deactivated in February 2021)
Great joy in Aachen: One of the central urban development projects is awarded special federal funding.
Mayor Sibylle Keupen: "This is a super message for our city!"
The Büchel old town quarter is one of 24 projects nationwide that are now being supported with a total of 75 million euros.
98 cities and municipalities had applied.
A most welcome piece of news reached the city of Aachen this morning (17 March 2021): Federal Minister Horst Seehofer has announced this year's selection of the "National Projects of Urban Development" and announced that the development of the Büchel old town quarter will receive up to 5.5 million euros in funding. Aachen is thus one of four municipalities in NRW to have been awarded the contract. With the amount of funding, the city is in third place nationwide.
Great news from Berlin: The federal government wants to support the development of the Büchel in Aachen's city centre with up to 5.5 million euros. Photo: City of Aachen / Andreas Herrmann
OBin Keupen: "We feel the spirit of optimism!"
"This is a great message for our city," says Mayor Sibylle Keupen in her first reaction. "We have long felt the spirit of optimism around the Büchel in Aachen. The demolition of the multi-storey car park is imminent, the planning workshop was a great success, many groundbreaking political decisions have been made, and more are on the horizon. Above all, many city makers are on board and want to be involved in a very concrete way. They want to participate, to shape, to plan, to build. The fact that this high level of commitment of all those involved here on site has now also triggered such a response at federal level encourages us to continue on the path of 'making a city at Büchel'."
City Planning Director Burgdorff: "Aachen can play in the Bundesliga!"
The municipal councillor for urban development, construction and mobility, Frauke Burgdorff, adds: "I am extremely pleased that Aachen, if it sticks together, can also play in the Bundesliga! Aachen's politicians have united behind the project and have given their backing to the state and federal governments. Thank you for that! But I would also like to express my sincere thanks to those who have done the substantive work here on site, to the municipal project manager Nils Jansen as well as to Christoph Guth and Antje Eickhoff, who have done an excellent job on the part of the municipal development company SEGA."
Making town at the Büchel
A special piece of the city at eye level is to be created at Büchel. It is being developed together with many committed people and institutions. With this approach, it has also precisely met the requirements of the call for proposals. The Federal Ministry's project overview states: "Knowledge, living, meadow" are the keywords under which a mixed-use, urban quarter is to be created in the heart of Aachen's old town in a cooperative and exemplary development process that is wanted and supported by the urban community.
The basis for the development is the exploratory procedure "Stadt machen am Büchel" (Making a city at Büchel), which the city of Aachen launched in spring 2020. City Planning Director Burgdorff sums up: "A multi-storey car park has been blocking the development of the old town for decades. We are tearing it down and building a new urban quarter. The urban community itself is developing the programme, urban design and investment strategy. This project offers a unique opportunity to find answers to the question of how a major wound in the old city can be healed with contemporary building-cultural responses."
The next steps
Following today's basic commitment by the federal government to fund the project, the detailed applications for funding will be drawn up in phase 2. In this ongoing process - and on the basis of upcoming landmark decisions of Aachen's municipal politics - it will now be worked out how the Büchel of the future will take shape with the funding millions.
National urban development projects
National urban development projects are nationally and internationally visible, larger-scale urban development projects with clear impulses for the respective municipality or city, the region and urban development policy in Germany as a whole. They are characterised by a special quality standard with regard to the urban development approach, the building culture aspects and the participation processes, contribute to the realisation of the federal government's building policy objectives and have innovation potential. National urban development projects are projects that generally solve tasks and problems of considerable financial dimension. The focus is on the major challenges currently facing cities and municipalities in Germany (e.g. preservation of existing buildings, conversions, sustainable neighbourhood development).
A total of 24 projects for forward-looking urban development are being funded by the federal government with a total of around 75 million euros. 98 cities and municipalities from all over Germany applied for the funding.
More info Interesting facts about the Büchel can be found on the Internet at www.buechel-aachen.de
From Aprill 2021 the Demolition work on the Büchel multi-storey car park. All the info on this has been presented as part of an online event. The stream is still available on the YouTube channel of the city of Aachen: https://youtu.be/KQqFq6v_edA.
Within the framework of a cooperative planning workshop, three teams of experts developed three exciting designs for the Büchel, each with a focus on the major themes of "knowledge, living, meadow". The final presentation of the planning workshop, which took place digitally in January 2021, is also still available as a stream: https://youtu.be/AWSb5Gx3gKA.
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On 30.6. the field test started in Herten, North Rhine-Westphalia. For one year, scientists coordinate the operation of three combined heat and power plants with the use of three heat pumps, a PV system, a large lithium-ion storage unit and a private electric storage heating system to balance the PV and wind feed-in.
