CDU on climate and energy

The CDU rejects the targets in the state climate protection law and wants to follow the federal climate targets instead. According to the platform, separate sector targets and an earlier deadline endanger the local economy and drive businesses away.

Rhineland-Palatinate has its own climate law. It sets stricter goals than the federal government. The CDU does not want these goals. The state should use the federal goals. The CDU says that otherwise companies will leave.

The platform opposes state-level sector targets and a date for climate neutrality earlier than the federal one. The CDU argues that this does not produce real climate neutrality but shifts burdens elsewhere and pushes companies out of the state. Instead of fixed targets, it relies on motivation and incentives. In its view, Rhineland-Palatinate should become a model state for climate-friendly technologies.

The CDU wants to pursue climate protection through incentives rather than rules, keeping all technologies open. Heat planning should work without mandatory grid connection, and funding guidelines should be technology-neutral. Wind, hydro and geothermal power would be expanded where it makes economic sense and is accepted locally.

The CDU wants to protect the climate with rewards, not bans. Every technology should be allowed. Nobody should be forced to connect to a heating network. Wind turbines should be built where they pay off. Local people should agree to them.

The platform lists renewables, hydrogen, synthetic fuels, the circular economy and CO₂ storage as paths to climate neutrality. Companies investing in climate-friendly production would get relief. Chemical recycling would be recognized as an innovative process. For geothermal energy, the CDU calls for clear rules on who covers damage. It wants to implement the federal Wind-an-Land-Gesetz (onshore wind law) together with regional planning bodies without overburdening individual regions.

The CDU wants a solar law to make photovoltaics easier on public, commercial and private rooftops. Farmland and other open areas would stay protected so that the energy transition does not compete with farming and conservation for land.

The CDU wants more solar panels on roofs. A new law should make this happen. Building them should get easier. Good farmland should not be used for solar panels. The state should put solar panels on its own buildings.

The law would remove obstacles, for example in historic preservation, and simplify permits. Funding programs would focus more on rooftop systems, and the state would equip the roofs of its own properties. The platform also names facades, sealed surfaces, parking lots, noise barriers and disused industrial sites as locations. For agriculture, floating PV and agri-PV systems that combine farming and power generation would be supported.

The CDU wants to keep using the existing gas grid and gradually replace fossil natural gas with sustainable gases, because it considers a statewide hydrogen network unfeasible for now. Natural gas would serve as a bridge technology during this phase. It also advocates a lower electricity tax for businesses and households.

The CDU wants to keep using the gas pipes. Step by step, climate-friendly gas should replace natural gas. Until then natural gas is still needed, the CDU says. The tax on electricity should go down. This applies to companies and households.

Green methane from power-to-gas would be fed into the existing grid, with pure hydrogen blended in to a limited extent. The CDU justifies this with supplying industry and avoiding costly misinvestment. Alongside renewables, the platform calls for flexible power plants, electricity storage and regional energy concepts that involve municipalities more closely. In the Bundesrat, the CDU wants to push for reliable investment conditions, faster permitting, more efficient grid expansion and predictable funding.