Grüne on climate and energy

The Greens want to step up wind power expansion to at least 500 megawatts a year. Designated priority areas are to be built on quickly and more are to be designated, with a goal of at least 2.2 percent of the state's land. Permits are to be issued faster.

The Greens want many more wind turbines in Hesse. Each year, 500 megawatts of new turbines should be added. More land should be set aside for this. Offices should approve turbines faster. Citizens should be able to own a share.

The 2.2 percent land target follows federal plans. When state forest land is awarded, citizen participation is to count for more. Old turbines are to be replaceable by new ones outside priority areas too, which requires federal rules. Energy cooperatives, citizen energy companies and regional firms are to be strengthened. Regional authorities and the higher administrative court are to get more capacity, and a "Task Force Erneuerbare" (renewables task force) is to remove hurdles. Northern Hesse is to be supported as a model region for sustainable energy systems.

The Greens want to make solar installations mandatory on all new buildings and support builders with low-cost loans. The expansion of photovoltaics and solar thermal is to speed up overall. Solar installations are to go primarily on land that is already sealed.

The Greens want every new building to have solar panels. This should be required. People who build should get cheap loans for it. Solar panels should mainly go on roofs and parking lots. Good farmland should stay free.

New state-owned parking lots are to get solar roofs from 35 spaces up, public ones from 50; suitable state buildings get photovoltaics. Planning and permitting are to be simplified. Binding expansion targets are to be agreed with municipalities, and the solar register is to be developed further. An open-space solar plan is to guide where installations go and limit the use of farmland. Dual use of farmland and installations on inland waters are to be tested. For farmland that becomes commercial land through solar use, the property tax is to be lowered.

The Greens want a heat supply that comes entirely from renewable sources. To that end, all municipalities are to be required to draw up heat plans, and more buildings are to get energy retrofits. Advice and funding are to be expanded and simplified.

The Greens want heating to become climate-friendly. Every town must make a heat plan for this. More homes should be upgraded so they need less energy. There should be more advice and money from the state. People with little money should get extra help.

A heating transition strategy is to be developed as part of the Roadmap Energiewende. Easy-access advice, affordable financing, step-by-step retrofit plans and serial retrofitting are to raise the renovation rate; funding is to reach above all households struggling with high utility costs. A geothermal master plan and the use of waste heat, especially from data centers, are planned. New residential areas are to be planned as climate neutral. State buildings are to be built climate neutral and, in major renovations, exceed the Efficiency Standard 55. The state energy agency is to be strengthened, and energy competence centers are to be set up in every county and independent city.

The Greens want to expand power grids, energy storage and hydrogen infrastructure so that renewable energy can be used at any time. A funding program is to advance the building of storage. Green hydrogen is to be used where electrification is hard to achieve.

Wind and sun do not always make the same amount of power. So the Greens want to build more power storage. The state should give money for this. Power grids should get better too. Hydrogen should help where electricity alone is not enough.

Distribution grids are to be upgraded quickly and broadly for the energy transition; the distribution grid study will be updated for this. On transmission grid expansion, the party wants to help find solutions that work for towns and nature. Incentives are to get industry to make its power demand more flexible. The Roadmap Energiewende is to be developed into an implementation plan for a digital energy system, building on real-world labs and model regions. Knowledge transfer from universities is to be promoted with the House of Energy.

The Greens want Hesse to be climate neutral by 2035 at the latest and commit to the 1.5-degree target. The state climate plan is to become more binding, be reviewed every year and be tightened where needed.

Hesse should be climate neutral by 2035. That means the state no longer harms the climate. The Greens want to check the climate plan every year. The state's own offices should be climate neutral by 2030.

Ambitious sector targets and an immediate program for climate protection and the energy transition are planned. Sector targets are to be monitored at shorter intervals, with quick corrections if a target is at risk and support from the climate advisory council. A CO2 budget for Hesse is to be examined, and the climate check is to be reviewed and possibly extended. A CO2 shadow price, a notional price used in investment decisions, is to be introduced for public budgets. Measures to remove CO2 from the atmosphere are to be funded, and a "Roadmap Zero Emission" is to make the state administration CO2 neutral by 2030.

The Greens want to give cities, counties and municipalities more advice and funding for climate protection. Climate protection and adaptation are to become more binding there and get predictable financing.

Towns and cities matter for climate protection. The Greens want to advise them and give them money. Climate protection should become a fixed part of their work. The federal government, states and towns should pay for it together.

A state advice and funding drive is planned, for example for climate-friendly land-use planning. Together with municipalities, a path toward more binding rules and longer-term financing is to be found. Municipalities are to get more budgetary room for climate investments and more regulatory powers. At the federal level, the Greens want climate protection and adaptation to become a joint task with matching funds.

The Greens want to prepare Hesse for the effects of global heating and develop funding programs and guidelines for this. An action program for natural climate protection is to strengthen peatlands, forests and soils.

The climate is changing. Hesse should prepare for this. The Greens want to protect peatlands, forests and soils. Cities should store rainwater better. That means less damage from floods.

The focus is on protecting and restoring peatlands, near-natural forests and building up humus in farmland soils. Floodplains are to be restored and water held back in the landscape and in built-up areas, following the sponge city principle. This is meant to replenish groundwater and protect against flooding from heavy rain. Building on heavy-rain hazard maps, emergency systems and cross-regional networks are to be funded. The state forestry agency HessenForst will receive firefighting equipment and training for wildfires.

The Greens want swift energy retrofits of publicly owned housing and want to advance the heating transition with advice, funding and fewer legal hurdles. Cities and villages are also to be better prepared for heat, heavy rain and flooding.

Buildings should use less energy. State-owned homes should lead the way. There should be more solar panels. Cities should become greener so summers are cooler.

Hurdles in the building code are to be lowered and conflicts with historic preservation resolved. A solar expansion drive plus more grids and storage are meant to reduce dependence on gas and oil. Municipal heat planning is to enable neighborhood-level solutions, and small municipalities also get advice and funding. Against heat, the party relies on greener neighborhoods and rainwater storage under the sponge-city principle. Building with wood and recyclable materials and renovation ahead of new construction are also to be promoted.

The Greens want to advance the shift to clean energy and heating at universities with a HEUREKA KLIMA program and provide money for building maintenance. Universities that wish to are to get autonomy over their construction projects.

University buildings should become more climate-friendly. The Greens plan a program called HEUREKA KLIMA for this. There should also be money to maintain buildings. Universities may decide on their own building projects if they want.

HEUREKA is Hesse's construction program for universities, which the platform says allows long-term planning. Further CO2-saving measures, solar panels and Green Offices are to be supported. Universities are expected to manage their space carefully in order to lower costs. They are to rent out their buildings more often, especially outside lecture periods, including in cooperation with other state institutions.

The Greens want to steer the siting of data centers through transparent regional planning because, in the platform's view, unregulated construction endangers Hesse's climate targets. At least 30 percent of waste heat is to be used. "Green IT" is to become the guiding principle for procurement and planning by the state and municipalities.

Data centers need a lot of electricity. They also give off a lot of heat. The Greens want to plan where new data centers may be built. At least 30 percent of the heat should be used, for example for heating. The state should buy energy-saving computer technology.

Planning is to be based on a register of all data centers, heat sources and heat sinks. The criteria are energy efficiency, waste heat use, low water consumption and renewable energy. Liquid-cooled servers and connection to local and district heating networks are to be supported. The state's data center office is to be strengthened, linked with the state energy agency and made a contact point for municipalities as well. The state development plan is to be supplemented by regional digital planning, along with a digital model region in a rural area.