CDU on climate and energy

The CDU wants to expand coastal and flood protection because it expects more frequent extreme weather due to climate change. A water strategy is also meant to prepare the state for heavy rain and heat.

Climate change brings more storms, heavy rain, and heat. So the CDU wants to protect the coasts better. It also wants to do more against floods. There should be a plan for dealing with water.

The platform justifies the plan with increasing extreme weather and natural disasters caused by climate change. Because sea levels are rising, additional stretches of coast are to be protected. The CDU also wants to allow new protection techniques that are flexible, nature-based, and climate-resilient. A water strategy is meant to prepare the state for heavy rain, heat waves, and high water levels on rivers and coasts.

The CDU wants to promote heating with renewable energy in residential neighborhoods and industry, moving closer to climate neutrality by 2045. Electricity for heat pumps is to be freed from levies, and revenue from carbon pricing is to flow back to citizens.

The CDU wants homes to be heated with clean energy. There should be funding for this. Power for heat pumps should get cheaper. People should get back the money from the carbon price.

Photovoltaics, solar thermal energy and geothermal heat are to be used more. The CDU puts the focus on heat pumps, local heating networks, their combination with solar thermal energy, and direct marketing of surplus energy. Heating networks with a high share of renewables are to be expanded. At the federal level, the CDU wants to push for less red tape and for exempting heat pump electricity from levies. The heating transition is to be socially acceptable, with targeted funding and a return of carbon pricing revenue.

The CDU wants to rely less on insulation in older buildings and pay more attention to how heat is generated. Buildings are to be retrofitted only as far as is economically sensible, combined with a switch to renewable heat.

The CDU does not want to only insulate old houses. What you heat with should matter more. Renovation should not cost too much. Clean heating should come on top.

In the platform's view, turning every building into a low-energy house would trigger a very large need for investment. The CDU believes this money could be used more effectively elsewhere for a climate-neutral building sector. It therefore wants to combine economically viable insulation measures with the switch to renewable heat supply. Renovation roadmaps are meant to ensure flexibility and predictability.

The CDU wants towns and cities everywhere to draw up heating and cooling plans to make local heat supply climate neutral. The state is to support them. According to the platform, existing gas networks can also be used for climate-neutral gases such as hydrogen.

Every town should make a plan for heating and cooling. The plan shows how to heat without harming the climate. The state should help the towns. Old gas pipes can carry hydrogen later.

The plans are to take the different energy sectors into account and be applied statewide. Municipalities are to learn from one another and also carry out joint plans. Where a municipality considers it sensible in its heat plan, existing gas networks can be used for hydrogen or other climate-neutral gases, which the platform says avoids new investment. Heat planning is to be linked with the energy advice offered by consumer advice centers and with individual building consultations.

The CDU wants to expand training and continuing education in energy professions, especially building energy consulting. It also plans an information campaign on renewable heat and a new competence center for heat supply.

The CDU wants to train more people for energy jobs. A campaign should inform people about clean heating and funding. A center for heat supply should also be set up. It will offer expert knowledge.

Jobs related to renewable energy are to receive special support in order to strengthen the state as a business location with well-trained workers. Together with the energy agency, the CDU plans a broad campaign on using renewable heat and on available funding. This is meant to prevent conversions from failing for lack of knowledge. Research and development on new solutions for tapping, distributing and using heat are also to be supported.

The CDU wants to fund research that removes already emitted CO2 from the air and uses it as a raw material. This is meant to go beyond the goal of climate neutrality by 2045.

There is already a lot of CO2 in the air. The CDU wants to pay for research that takes CO2 back out. The CO2 can then be turned into new things. Examples are plastics or jet fuel.

This refers to carbon capture and utilization, in which captured CO2 is reused. The platform cites the production of plastics and kerosene as examples. Research and development in this field are to receive state money.

The CDU stands by the Paris Agreement and wants Schleswig-Holstein to be climate neutral by 2045; state-owned buildings are to get there by 2040. The path is to rely mainly on technology-neutral innovation and to be ecologically, socially, and economically acceptable.

The CDU wants to protect the climate. Schleswig-Holstein should be climate neutral by 2045. That means the state adds no more CO2 overall. State buildings should manage this by 2040. New technology should help.

For larger state government projects, CO2 costs are to be calculated and included in the overall accounting. The peatland protection program with rewetting is to continue. Climate protection agencies in the counties, the network of municipal climate managers, and the youth portal for sustainable future concepts are to receive continued support. Schleswig-Holstein is to be developed as a climate-neutral production location, and knowledge transfer on climate topics at universities is to grow. Faster planning and approval procedures are meant to help reach the goals.

The CDU wants to work out a strategy for adapting to climate change together with the state-level municipal associations. It justifies this with extreme weather, whose effects it says are already being felt.

The climate is already changing. There is more heavy rain and more heat. The CDU wants to prepare the state for this. It wants to make a plan together with the towns.

As examples of adaptation measures, the platform names stronger dike construction, heat strategies for cities, and the use of heavy-rain maps. Such steps are to be carried out more intensively alongside climate protection. The strategy is to be drawn up jointly with the municipal associations.

The CDU wants a fundamental reform of taxes, levies, surcharges, and grid fees in the energy sector and relies on a moderately rising carbon price. Emissions trading is to cover as many sectors as possible, and carbon-free electricity is to become cheaper.

Whoever emits CO2 should pay for it. This price should rise slowly. Clean electricity should get cheaper in return. The CDU wants to reorganize the charges on energy. The EEG surcharge should go away.

The platform sees abolishing the EEG surcharge (a levy on electricity to fund renewables) as the first step of a system change meant to make linking electricity, heat, and transport attractive. The number of permitted emission allowances is to fall every year in line with the climate targets. So that climate protection does not hamper business, the CDU calls on the federal government to pursue a uniform carbon price and an effective carbon border adjustment at the European level and beyond. Energy is to remain secure and affordable.

The CDU wants to build a hydrogen economy in the state, advance energy storage, and press the federal government to expand power lines to the south. The costs of the energy transition, especially for distribution grids, are to be shared more fairly nationwide.

Schleswig-Holstein makes a lot of power from wind and sun. The CDU wants to make hydrogen from it too. There should be more power lines and storage. The costs should be shared more fairly across Germany.

Green hydrogen is to be produced locally and used in public transit, municipal vehicle fleets, buildings in place of natural gas, and industry; a strategy is planned for this. Batteries, conversion technology, and a more flexible energy system are to link electricity, heat, and mobility. According to the platform, missing lines lead to surplus power that drives up grid fees and electricity prices. Municipalities and businesses are to receive funding programs for their role in climate protection, and local firms are to get help with exports. Solar energy is to be used widely on roofs, facades, parking lots, and public buildings.

The CDU wants to make solar power more attractive on roofs, facades and in rental buildings, and plans a solar strategy for the state. Ground-mounted arrays should mainly go on contaminated or sealed land, while high-quality farmland stays reserved for agriculture.

The CDU wants more power from the sun. Solar panels on your own roof should pay off. This also applies to buildings with many apartments. Large solar fields should not be built on good farmland.

The platform cites tenant electricity (Mieterstrom) as a model that lets renters use solar power generated on their building. At the federal level, the CDU wants levies dropped and clear rules for self-consumption when no outside grid is used; tax, levy and red-tape barriers to local generation should go. A solar strategy with incentives is planned for roof and facade systems. Agrivoltaics, where farming continues beneath the panels, is to be strengthened. The CDU also wants to examine whether suitable systems could be built on nature conservation land.

The CDU wants to keep supporting biogas plants, especially those that supply electricity, heat and biomethane at once. It also wants a scientific study of the geothermal potential in Schleswig-Holstein.

The CDU wants to keep supporting biogas plants. These plants make power and heat from crops and manure. Researchers should also check how much heat from the ground the state can use.

The platform describes biogas plants as a dependable source of electricity and heat that can be linked up regionally. Materials that cannot otherwise be used should also be fed into them. The CDU wants to discuss shared biogas plants for liquid manure with farmers, to strengthen farms and protect groundwater. The platform sees geothermal energy as a potentially important source for broad energy and heat supply.

The CDU wants to push at the federal level for binding planning and faster construction of wind farms off the state's coasts. More of the value created and revenue from this expansion should stay in Schleswig-Holstein.

The CDU wants more wind turbines at sea. The federal government should plan them firmly and build them fast. Schleswig-Holstein should earn more money from this.

The platform argues that offshore wind supplies low-cost renewable power and does not need subsidies under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). Responsibility lies with the federal level, where the CDU wants to press for firm planning and swift implementation. A larger share of the economic value should reach the state.

The CDU wants to make full use of the priority zones for wind power and gain additional sites by reassessing areas that were previously ruled out. Minimum distances to homes are to stay unchanged. Citizen-owned wind farms are to be strengthened.

The CDU wants to allow more wind turbines on land. It wants to check again areas that were turned down before. The distance to homes should stay the same. The CDU wants to give more support to wind farms owned by citizens.

According to the platform, 2.03 percent of the state's land is designated as priority zones; there, old turbines are to be replaced with more powerful ones (repowering) and gaps filled in. The CDU wants to test vertical wind turbines in a pilot project. Sites left out of the regional plan because of species protection, heritage protection or small size are to be reassessed. It will also examine whether state and federal law can be changed so that repowering becomes possible on excluded sites with strong local support, without putting the plans at risk. The citizen energy fund at the state investment bank is to be expanded so that revenue stays in the region.

The CDU wants to simplify permitting for facilities that generate or transport renewable energy. Electricity, gas and hydrogen grids are to be expanded and converted faster.

The CDU wants to make permits for energy facilities easier. Lines for power, gas and hydrogen should be built faster. The agencies should have enough staff for this.

The simplifications cover both generation facilities and transmission lines for renewable energy. Staffing at the responsible agencies is to keep being planned ahead so that procedures move quickly. For grid expansion, the CDU wants to reduce bureaucratic hurdles.

The CDU wants the coal-fired power plant in Wedel taken off the grid as early as possible. A dedicated state strategy is to be drawn up for dismantling the nuclear power plants in the state.

The CDU wants to shut down the coal power plant in Wedel as fast as possible. There should be a plan for taking apart the nuclear power plants in the state.

Both items appear in the list of concrete measures on energy generation. For the Wedel plant, the CDU says it will press for a quick end to operations. For the nuclear power plants, the state is to launch a dismantling strategy.

The CDU wants to fund energy storage to balance supply and demand for renewable power. Households and small businesses are to receive support for battery storage and heat pumps combined with a solar system.

The CDU wants to support power storage. Households and small firms should get money for battery storage and heat pumps. This applies if they have or build a solar system. The CDU also wants to bring a large battery factory to the state.

The support is meant to be low on paperwork and apply to both existing and new photovoltaic systems. Pilot projects in several regions are to show which storage technology is most efficient; they will be scientifically monitored, and smaller initiatives are to receive funding too. The CDU wants to help local utilities and grid operators better balance generation and consumption. It also wants to advance the siting of a gigafactory for battery systems. Sector coupling and digitalization of the energy system are to be pushed further.

The CDU wants to advance the hydrogen economy in the state and keep supporting the energy hubs in Heide, Brunsbüttel and Itzehoe. Brunsbüttel's port is to become a terminal for renewable fuels, and a hydrogen transport network from Hamburg to Oslo is to be created.

The CDU wants more green hydrogen in the state. Green hydrogen is a gas made with clean power. The port in Brunsbüttel should become a hub for clean fuels. Pipelines should carry hydrogen from Hamburg to Oslo.

The platform treats green hydrogen as a key building block for storing and transporting renewable electricity. The energy hubs are to be better linked through existing and new pipelines and storage. The HY.SH competence center is meant to bring science and business together. The CDU backs a "STRING Hydrogen Corridor" as a transport network for the western Baltic region. The platform sees major potential in the Brunsbüttel industrial area to cut emissions together with local companies, and the state's expertise is to be used internationally.