Climate neutrality goes for the money

Created: 01/10/2022, 06:00 AM

From: Günter Hiel

Something comes together: the buildings owned by the community, from the school center in Jagdfeld to the single-family home;

and all in need of energetic renovation.

© Municipality of Haar

In order to energetically renovate all buildings owned by the municipality and to come close to climate neutrality, Haar would have to invest between 25 and 36 million euros by 2045.

The problem with this is that hair is clammy.

Haa

r - The standard under the Building Energy Act (GEG) could be achieved with 25 million, and 36 million would be due for energy efficiency class A ++.

That is in the energetic renovation schedule, for which an expert rated 62 of the 70 existing buildings in the municipality, from the town hall to the school center to the single-family house.

Slump in business tax

In November 2021, the pharmaceutical company MSD left the community;

the largest business tax payer.

With serious consequences: If the municipality expects business tax income of 38 million euros in 2021, only ten million euros are budgeted for 2022.

The pandemic is also noticeable there.

Financial situation remains tense

To make matters worse, the municipality, based on its good tax strength in previous years, will have to pay around 25.7 million euros as a district levy to the district in 2022 - 10.4 million more than in the previous year.

The expenditure of the municipality of Haar will exceed the income by 18.5 million euros in 2022.

Haar has to fall back on 5.8 million euros from the reserves and take out a 2.9 million euros loan.

And the situation remains tense.

Local council must set priorities

For the municipal council this means: It has to set priorities.

And see what is feasible in terms of energetic renovation, which is an important point in the catalog of measures of the integrated climate protection concept.

Finally, in January 2020, the local council declared a climate emergency by majority vote.

That was a signal.

But now it's about a million euros annually on average to get to GEG standard by 2045, for A ++ it would be around 1.5 million euros annually.

The expert in the municipal council did not want to speculate about possible savings in energy costs in renovated houses.

There are too many unknowns in the calculation.

Renovation of the building envelope and switch to CO2-free energy sources

Climate neutrality in the building sector can only be achieved through a combination of renovating the building envelope and switching to CO2-free energy sources, according to the meeting documents that the administration has drawn up for the municipal council.

The annual renovation rate in Germany is below one percent, much too low for climate neutrality by 2045.

In order to do justice to their role model function, the municipalities would have to take the lead.

In the renovation roadmap, the municipal council members can now read what would be necessary in each individual building to make it almost climate-neutral;

and the cost.

Improve the income side

Basically, hair must improve its income side, attract new business taxpayers;

it is best to move into buildings that are up to date in terms of energy technology.