Germany is seeing a growing demand for government-backed environmental heat pumps to replace fossil fuel heating systems as the federal election approaches next February.
According to data from the German Ministry of Economy, applications rose to 54,892 applications last December, more than doubling compared to October 2024.
This rise comes – according to Bloomberg – with increasing fears about the possibility of reducing or canceling government support in light of the expected political changes.
Great financial support
These subsidies were provided last August to mitigate the impact of the ban on installing fossil fuel heating systems.
Subsidies provide compensation of up to 70% of the cost of environmentally friendly systems. But the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government in November led to increased focus on these subsidies, especially with the conservative coalition, which leads in opinion polls, promising to abolish the current heating law linked to these subsidies, according to the agency.
Challenges of the environmental heating sector
The German Heat Pump Association expects that sales of these systems fell by 45% last year to about 195,000 units.
However, a spokesman for one of the pump manufacturers noted that the collapse of the government had increased interest in the technology, leading to more projects being undertaken.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Economy explained that the Heat Pump Promotion Week, organized by the State Energy Agency last October, also contributed to increasing awareness and removing fears associated with this technology.
However, research from Bloomberg shows that German spending on heat pumps must more than double by 2030 to meet carbon neutrality targets.
