CDU on climate and energy

The CDU wants to make Hamburg an internationally visible hub for renewable energy in northern Europe. To that end, the hydrogen network should grow outward from the port, and import terminals for hydrogen and related fuels should be planned faster.

The CDU wants Hamburg to be an important place for renewable energy. For this, there should be a network for hydrogen. It starts in the port and should grow quickly. Plants for importing hydrogen should also be planned faster.

The hydrogen industrial network in the port is to be extended quickly to industrial and commercial areas. Planning of import terminals for hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and synthetic fuels should be sped up. Certification, planning and permitting, along with new technical and safety standards, are to be handled quickly, transparently and together with companies, institutions and associations. In the CDU's view, this is the only way Hamburg can compete with other European port locations.

The CDU calls for a funded plan to better prepare downtown for heat and heavy rain. More greenery is meant to cool streets and buildings, while infiltration areas and collection systems are to absorb rainwater.

Downtown Hamburg has very little green space. The CDU wants more plants and trees there. That should cool the city in hot weather. In heavy rain, open ground and special systems should take up the water.

According to the platform, downtown is heavily paved; public green space makes up only 1.96 percent of the area inside the Wallanlagen ring. Following the sponge city principle, the CDU wants rainwater to seep away or be collected and used for irrigation. Greening that goes beyond trees and climate resilience are to be planned into every further development of downtown.

The CDU wants to advance climate protection through new technologies, market incentives, and openness to all technologies, and rejects bans as a tool. The costs and benefits of measures are to be weighed scientifically.

The CDU wants to protect the climate with new technology. It rejects bans. It prefers incentives. Costs and benefits of each measure should be checked. The environment agency should get more staff and approve things faster.

The platform lists various energy and drive types, energy efficiency, energy storage, the circular economy, and capturing, storing (CCS), and recycling CO2. Climate policy is to take economic strength, security of supply, social fairness, and demographics into account. In the CDU's view, the federal heating law and Hamburg's climate protection law have caused fear and resistance. Instead of more reports and statistics, it wants concrete steps such as planting trees and maintaining green spaces. The environment agency is to get more staff as a permitting authority and become more solution-oriented.

The CDU wants to rely on incentives rather than legal obligations for energy retrofits of buildings and to adjust retrofit targets to costs and the shortage of skilled workers. In transport, e-mobility, green hydrogen, more charging points, and buses with alternative drives are meant to cut emissions.

The CDU wants buildings to use less energy. It wants incentives instead of duties. The targets should be doable. In transport, it wants to support electric cars and hydrogen. There should be many more charging stations. All buses should get new drives step by step.

Buildings with high savings potential are to be retrofitted first. The platform describes legal requirements as an intrusion on private property. Charging stations are to work more reliably with fewer outages, and private charging stations get support. The HVV bus fleet is to be converted gradually. AI-supported traffic management is meant to avoid congestion and thereby reduce emissions.

The CDU wants to make Hamburg a leading location for renewable energy in Northern Europe and to bring in industrial manufacturing for it. The shift to a sustainable economy is meant to create new jobs in the metropolitan region.

The CDU wants Hamburg to lead in clean energy. Companies should build things like wind turbines or batteries here. The CDU wants to use land in the port for this. This should create new jobs.

According to the platform, Hamburg so far has almost no manufacturing for wind energy, photovoltaics, solar thermal, fuel cells, batteries, and electrolysis. Industrial areas, especially in the port, are to be used for this. Companies are to get financial incentives, less red tape, and faster permits, particularly for projects that benefit the climate. The CDU points to existing experts and networks in the region.

The CDU wants to prepare Hamburg for the effects of climate change because, in its view, some changes can no longer be reversed. This includes a more capable sewer system, dike protection, and more attention to the urban climate in planning.

The climate has already changed. The CDU wants to prepare Hamburg for this. The sewers should get better. The dikes should protect the city. City and green planning should consider the local climate.

The platform sees a duty to deal carefully with the consequences of environmental destruction and climate change. It names upgrading sewers and wastewater pipes as well as protecting the dikes. In urban and green-space planning, small-scale climate effects are to be given more weight.

The CDU supports the broadest possible trading of emission allowances for greenhouse gases in Europe and worldwide. It welcomes European legislation on environmental and climate protection and commits to CO2 targets that are ambitious but, in its view, realistic.

Hamburg alone can hardly protect the climate. So the CDU wants more cooperation across borders. Those who emit greenhouse gases should have to buy rights for it. This should apply in Europe and worldwide. Large natural areas should be protected.

The CDU argues that a single city can make only a very small contribution to climate goals. Besides emissions trading, the largest possible connected habitats are to be protected to promote biodiversity. Hamburg is to contribute its share to the CO2 reduction targets.

The CDU wants to pay for the overhaul of the energy system with subsidy programs, cheap loans and guarantees, so that energy and water do not become much more expensive. It also wants to expand the energy supply and give more support to electricity storage.

Changing the energy system costs a lot of money. The CDU wants to offer cheap loans for this. The city should also guarantee loans. This should keep power and water from getting much more expensive. The CDU also wants to support power storage.

The platform calls for subsidy programs for technologies that are not yet economical, such as electric mobility and certain heating systems. Research on decarbonizing industry is to receive funding. Because the platform says infrastructure companies cannot carry the costs alone, low-interest or interest-free loans, guarantees and additional investors are meant to help, while the city keeps its strategic influence over its own companies. For supply security, the CDU wants to use all available energy sources and keep enough baseload power plants. Electricity storage is to become a focus of research and deployment so that wind and solar power is not curtailed during overproduction.

The CDU wants to advance photovoltaics in Hamburg through a city subsidy program rather than mandates, and to put systems on public buildings. It rejects wind turbines right next to homes or in nature reserves and wants to make up for missing land through treaties with other states.

The CDU wants more solar panels in Hamburg. It wants to give money for this but not force anyone. City buildings should get solar panels. Wind turbines should not stand right next to homes. They should not stand in nature reserves either.

According to the platform, wind power covers only about 2 percent of Hamburg's electricity demand because land is scarce. The CDU therefore wants to use the cooperation with other states provided for in federal law and designate land there by treaty. For solar, it plans a survey of potential and targeted information for owners of suitable surfaces. Balcony solar units are meant to offer an easy entry point. Contaminated sites are to be checked for solar use and leased to energy companies or cooperatives. All public buildings are to be checked and fitted with photovoltaics where possible.

The CDU considers the current city government's heat planning flawed and wants to present an accurate heat map for every building. In addition, deep geothermal energy and waste heat from industrial processes are to be used more for heating.

The CDU wants to make a new heat map for Hamburg. The map should show for each building which heating is possible. There should also be advice and help with paying. The CDU also wants to use heat from deep in the earth. Heat from factories should no longer go to waste.

According to the platform, the district heating map that was presented was inaccurate and left owners uncertain. The new map is to come with advice, help with implementation and financing offers. Beyond the city-owned utilities, all heat producers and suppliers are to be involved. The CDU sees deep geothermal energy as a climate-neutral heat source for homes and businesses that has barely been tapped so far. Surplus heat is to go into the network instead of escaping into the air and the Elbe river.