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Development area in Lower Saxony: "You have to be prepared for the fact that this will be exhausted very quickly."
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
Around three months after the abrupt stop in funding, applications for KfW new building funding can still be submitted this month.
This was announced by the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
From April 20th, applications for funding according to the KfW efficiency standard EH40 should be possible.
He is very pleased that the new building subsidy "with an offer for residential and non-residential buildings" can start again soon, said the minister.
As announced, the budget is limited to one billion euros.
"You have to be prepared for the fact that this will be exhausted very quickly."
Subsidy rates will be reduced
In order to enable as many applicants as possible to obtain funding, his ministry has reduced the funding rates, according to Habeck.
The funding conditions have also changed: the installation of gas heaters should no longer be funded.
Habeck called her previous funding an “anachronism”, and the freeze on funding was also “politically always advisable”.
According to the ministry, the new construction subsidy as part of the federal subsidy for efficient buildings (BEG) is limited in this form until December 31st.
The sum of one billion euros is therefore available for the restart of funding from April 20th.
If this budget is exhausted for this year, the EH40 program is to be continued until the end of the year with “more demanding conditions”.
Funding for new construction should then only be possible in combination with the Quality Seal for Sustainable Building (QNG).
Three steps for climate protection
As a third and final step, according to Habeck’s ministry, a new, comprehensive program entitled “Climate-friendly construction” is planned for January 2023.
This program is intended to further develop the QNG seal and "focus even more on greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of the building".
The exact adjustment of the program is still being worked out.
At the beginning of the year, the suspension of funding had caused quite a stir.
On January 24, the Ministry of Economics announced that the energy efficiency promotion of the state KfW would be stopped with immediate effect.
In addition to the new building subsidy according to the EH55 efficiency standard, this also affected the subsidy programs for the higher EH40 standard and energy-efficient renovation of buildings, which led to clear criticism from the construction industry and consumer protection groups.
According to Habeck, the reason for the funding stop was that the funds for the continuation of the programs had already been exhausted.
At the same time, as early as January, he held out the prospect of a rapid reorganization of funding.
After the funding stop, KfW began processing all eligible old applications that were received before January 24 in a first step at the beginning of February.
Three weeks later, the refurbishment subsidy started again.
However, the schedule for restarting funding for new buildings was initially unclear.
jlk/dpa
