CDU on climate and energy

The CDU wants to combine economic and environmental goals in business parks. This includes a solar roof requirement for new commercial buildings, easier permits for wind turbines in commercial zones, and less sealed ground.

The CDU wants business parks to be better for the climate. New company buildings must have solar panels on the roof. Wind turbines in business parks should get permits more easily. Less ground should be built over.

The program lists restoring and upgrading near-natural areas and sustainable construction with as little sealed ground as possible. For existing sites it plans a set of measures under the motto "green instead of gray." It also calls for new mobility concepts that strengthen public transit, cycling, and walking.

The CDU wants to provide more space and handling capacity for offshore wind turbines in the ports and build a “Green Energy Port” on the Weser. The facilities are also to be usable for hydrogen and its derivatives.

The CDU wants to use the ports for the shift to clean energy. Wind turbines for the sea should be loaded and serviced there. A new port on the Weser should be built for this. Hydrogen should also arrive and be processed there.

The platform sees space for building, maintaining, repowering, and recycling offshore wind turbines at CT1 and on the ABC peninsula. A heavy-load quay in the southern Fischereihafen II is to serve the “Lune Delta” business park. Because installation vessels cannot pass the Fischereihafen lock, a “Green Energy Port” is to be built at the Blexer Bogen as supply-side planning and included in the federal planning acceleration law. On hydrogen, the CDU seeks cooperation with companies and research bodies such as Fraunhofer IWES.

The CDU wants to further reduce emissions in the ports with a view to climate neutrality. Cargo-handling equipment is to switch to climate-friendly drives, and ships are to use electricity from shore while docked.

The CDU wants less exhaust in the port. Machines in the port should run in a climate-friendly way. Ships at the quay should get power from land. Then their engines do not have to run there.

All inland vessels are to use shore power, as are seagoing ships where technically feasible. To that end, the CDU wants to speed up construction of shore power facilities and design port fees so they create incentives. Through federal initiatives, the tax burden on shore power is to be lowered further.

The CDU wants to give taxi operators financial support for switching to electric cars. Each newly purchased electric taxi would receive a 10,000-euro subsidy. According to the program, nearly all of Bremen's more than 460 taxis currently run on combustion engines.

The CDU wants taxis in Bremen to run on electricity. Each new electric taxi should get 10,000 euros. The city should also pay for charging points for taxis. Today almost all taxis run on gasoline or diesel.

The program cites Hamburg as a model. Funds would also be provided for the charging infrastructure taxis need. According to the program, about 60 to 70 taxis are replaced each year, from which the CDU derives costs of roughly 700,000 euros annually. The program describes taxis as part of public transit, for example for patient and school transport.

The CDU commits to the Paris Climate Agreement and wants Bremen to be climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest. It relies on incentives, innovation and openness to all technologies rather than blanket bans; climate action should remain affordable for everyone.

The CDU wants Bremen to be climate-neutral by 2040. Climate-neutral means the state no longer harms the climate. The CDU wants to get there with new technology and incentives. It does not want blanket bans.

By 2035 at the latest, Bremen's CO2 emissions are to fall by 85 percent compared with 1990, including the steel industry. The final report of the state's climate study commission is to be implemented consistently. The platform follows the idea of "blue ecology" and regards climate action and the economy as compatible. It expects new jobs, more innovation and a better quality of life in Bremen and Bremerhaven.

The CDU wants to raise the share of renewables in electricity, heating and cooling considerably. Installed wind capacity is to grow by half to around 300 megawatts by 2030 in order to meet the climate targets in the energy sector.

The CDU wants more energy from wind and sun. This applies to electricity, heating and cooling. Wind power in Bremen should grow by half by 2030. Bremen should also save more energy.

The platform notes that in 2019 Bremen ranked second among German states in per-capita CO2 emissions from primary energy use. In 2020 the state's share of renewables in electricity generation was far below the national average. Available potential is to be tapped as quickly as possible. The CDU also wants to unlock further gains in energy efficiency and energy saving.

The CDU wants to raise solar capacity in the state of Bremen to around 500 megawatts by 2030 and to 1,000 megawatts in the long run. Every suitable roof is to get a photovoltaic system, with public buildings leading by example.

The CDU wants much more power from the sun. By 2030 there should be ten times as much solar capacity as today. Every suitable roof should get solar panels. The city should start with its own buildings.

The platform names an interim target of about 300 megawatts by 2027. According to the CDU, less than five percent of the technical solar potential is used so far, and only four systems were installed on public buildings between 2016 and 2020. A plan with a priority list is to be drawn up quickly for existing public buildings, covering green roofs or photovoltaics for on-site use including storage. In future development plans involving the public housing companies GEWOBA, BREBAU and STÄWOG, green roofs or solar systems are to be built. The energy transition is to remain affordable and socially balanced.

The CDU wants to give private households financial support for solar systems, including balcony modules and battery storage. Low-income households are to receive higher subsidies, and tenants are to take part in the energy transition through Mieterstrom (tenant power) systems.

The CDU wants to give households money for solar panels. This includes small panels for balconies. People with little money should get more help. Renters should also be able to use solar power from their own roof.

The plan includes support for systems that cover the whole roof, subsidies for balcony modules for tenants and allotment gardeners, and a state program for solar battery storage. The support is to be combined with advice on building-law questions, and approval by the grid operator is to become simpler. Public housing companies are to equip their roofs with tenant power systems quickly; the CDU wants better federal rules and advice services for landlords and tenants for this. Solar panels on listed heritage buildings are to be allowed unless especially weighty concerns stand in the way.

The CDU wants to make greater use of wind power on land and at sea and to replace older turbines with more powerful ones. Citizens are to be able to take part in projects through cooperatives.

The CDU wants more power from wind. Old wind turbines should be replaced by stronger ones. People should be able to join wind projects together.

The platform names areas along the A27 highway and commercial zones as possible sites. Repowering, meaning the replacement of existing turbines with newer ones, is to move ahead faster. The power grid is always to be planned alongside the expansion. The CDU also wants to promote cooperative ownership in wind projects.

The CDU wants heating in the state of Bremen to be climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest. Municipal heat planning is to show the cheapest and most effective renewable options for streets, neighborhoods and districts.

The CDU wants heating to work without oil and gas by 2040. The cities should make a plan for this. The plan shows the best solution for each area. That can be a heat network or a local system.

The heat planning is to identify potential, link sectors and make use of energy that currently goes unused. It is to serve as the basis for a binding political decision on whether local supply or a heat network is chosen. In new neighborhoods, local energy and heat generation is to play a larger role where possible and sensible. The platform cites large heat pumps serving several buildings and larger solar arrays spanning buildings or parking lots as examples.

The CDU wants to make Bremen and Bremerhaven a hub for green hydrogen and expand production, grids and storage for this. In the platform's view, hydrogen is to make industry, transport and heating climate-neutral and store renewable energy over long periods.

The CDU wants Bremen to make a lot of green hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that stores energy. It should help the steel plant work in a climate-friendly way, for example. There should also be filling stations for hydrogen.

Electrolysis plants are to be approved faster. The Bremen steel plant is to be able to make green steel; pipelines to Mittelsbüren are to be planned and approved quickly for this. Bremen is to be connected to northern Germany's cavern storage, and imports of hydrogen and its derivatives are to be possible as well. A network of hydrogen filling stations and a switch of parts of the public vehicle fleet are planned. International partnerships and funding for research into applications are added to this.

The CDU wants to link climate protection and the economy and support climate-friendly technologies with incentives and funding structures. Capturing, storing and using CO2 is also to be included, because the platform considers full climate neutrality unreachable otherwise.

The CDU wants to reward companies that use climate-friendly technology. It also wants CO2 to be captured and stored. CO2 is a gas that harms the climate. Public offices should issue permits faster.

Funding structures are to be created or strengthened where they do not yet exist at EU or federal level. With CCS and CCU, meaning capturing CO2 and storing or using it, the CDU sees opportunities for Bremen's ports and wants to bring initiatives to the Bundesrat. Digitalization is to follow a green IT approach. Public agencies are to issue permits much faster and inform users quickly.

The CDU wants to reduce electricity and gas shutoffs and prevent them entirely in cases of social hardship. To that end, the existing hardship fund is to be reformed. The consumer advice center is to get a climate protection management position and also advise on electric mobility.

Some people have their power or gas cut off. The CDU wants this to happen less often. In hardship cases it should not happen at all. The consumer advice center is to give more advice on energy and climate.

The hardship fund's eligibility rules are to be revised. The consumer advice center is to set up energy-law and budget counseling for this purpose. Against energy poverty, the program relies on early advice and basic provision of energy-efficient appliances in households. The center is to act as a link between politics and the public in dealing with the effects of climate change, for instance through campaigns and projects. It is to receive extra funding for advice on electric mobility.

The CDU proposes a state fund to support climate-friendly technologies, mainly at start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses. The public sector and private investors would each take a half share in projects to mobilize more private capital.

The CDU wants a new fund for climate protection. A fund is a pool of money. The state and private investors each pay half. The money goes mainly to young and smaller companies with new climate ideas.

The fund would back projects from development through to application, for instance in renewable energy, energy efficiency, artificial intelligence, the circular economy, and emissions avoidance. The equal split between government and private investors is meant to spur private investment in climate protection. The CDU plans to open talks soon with private investors on founding and designing the fund.

The CDU rejects suspending the debt brake for climate spending and instead wants a climate bond issued through the Bremer Aufbaubank (Bremen's development bank). This is meant to finance climate investments without adding new debt to the state budget.

The CDU does not want new state debt for climate protection. Instead, a state-owned bank should collect money from residents. It uses the money to build solar panels, for example. Residents get interest in return.

According to the CDU, the 3-billion-euro borrowing program presented in November 2022 would burden budgets by at least 150 million euros a year; it also argues there is no constitutional basis, since climate change has long been known and is not an unforeseeable emergency. The state would guarantee the green bond. At first, only private individuals and small investors could subscribe, up to 100,000 euros and on special terms, followed by institutional investors at market terms. Repayment would come solely from project returns. The CDU also relies on reallocations within a balanced budget and more EU and federal funds.