More and more German cities are implementing legally required heating plans. Compared to the previous year, the number of cities implementing this has increased by 20 percent, according to the latest survey carried out by the Competence Center for Municipal Heat Transition (KWW). At the same time, only a few cities are still making preparations.
It is planned that all large cities in Germany will draw up heating plans by the end of June 2026. Small cities and communities with a population of less than 100,000 people have until the end of June 2028.
According to the survey, about half of German cities – especially large cities – are in the planning or implementation stages. Requirements for cities and municipalities are specified in the federal heat planning law, which came into effect on January 1, 2024.
Communication as a challenge
Urban thermal planning is important for existing buildings. This should make it clear to homeowners whether they should connect to a district heating network, for example, or whether they should find a decentralized solution themselves if there is a new heating system – a heat pump, for example.
When it comes to planning and implementation, there is one thing that is often a big challenge for city governments: communication with everyone involved. This is despite the fact that this is a “major success factor,” KWW director Robert Brückmann told news agency dpa.
“Inviting all stakeholders to negotiate from an early stage is a guarantee of the successful implementation of heat planning and a good heating plan,” he said. Additionally, good communication creates the necessary acceptance among society. The competence center in Halle, Anhalt, is part of the German Energy Agency (dena) and is intended to support the municipality in drawing up heating plans.
The heating plan raises big questions
In addition to communication, surveyed city governments stated that they experienced difficulties in planning due to a lack of staff and the additional effort required to build knowledge, KWW explained. “We see that municipal governments often face challenges. But once they get involved, everything becomes easier,” says Brückmann.
And even before these warming plans are implemented, many cities are faced with big questions – which are also big challenges, such as: How will this entire plan actually be funded? And how do I tell consumers and citizens about this?
According to Brückmann, the city of Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, where KWW is headquartered, is a “lighthouse” when it comes to heating planning. This shows, among other things, how important it is to involve everyone involved in planning – although the Heat Planning Act does not necessarily require this. “But we recommend talking to as many people as early as possible. However, there are cases across the country where individual actors were only involved very late. And then we realized: the planning wasn’t appropriate.”
