In some cases, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to exempt hospitals, care and rehabilitation facilities from the obligation to replace oil and gas heating systems.

“We will not allow rising energy and heating costs to jeopardize the existence of hospitals,” he told Bild am Sonntag. The state guarantees services of general interest. This includes “compensating for deficits for which even well-functioning clinics are not responsible.”

Concretely, it should be possible for the above-mentioned facilities to be exempt from the requirement to switch to climate-friendly energies if they have to change their heating, even after the new Building Energy Law comes into force.

The prerequisite should be that otherwise the investments place a disproportionate burden on healthcare facilities and jeopardize the continuation of operations.

The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, sharply criticized the traffic light coalition’s latest plans for climate policy. “The traffic light announces the balance between economy, ecology and social issues,” said Bild am Sonntag’s CDU politician.

Above all, Kretschmer criticized the planned building energy law for heating renovation: It was done “with the crowbar”. “Many citizens will not be able to afford the necessary conversion of their homes or apartments. Homeowners and housing companies are also alarming,” the head of state said.

“The energy transition will become unaffordable for citizens and politicians will lose a large portion of the population as a result.” Due to the climate policy, there will be massive relocation of companies away from Germany.

The traffic light coalition recently reached a consensus on the controversial building energy law. Accordingly, starting from January 1, 2024, it remains the basic principle to run every newly installed heating system with 65 percent renewable energy.

For this reason, pure gas or oil-fired heating systems should no longer be newly installed. However, there should be exceptions, transition periods and comprehensive financing.

At the FDP federal party conference on Saturday, delegates approved a motion calling for “substantial changes” to the Building Energy Act, but the draft was passed by the cabinet last week with the approval of FDP ministers. The FDP now criticizes that regulations interfere too much with people’s self-determined lives.

However, according to a poll by the opinion research institute Insa on behalf of “Bild am Sonntag”, 55 percent of party supporters are in favor of banning new gas and oil heating systems. That’s just 32 percent of the general population.