Grüne on climate and energy

The Greens call for anchoring climate protection as a state goal in the state constitution. This is meant to give responsibility toward future generations a stronger legal footing.

The Greens want to change the constitution of Saxony-Anhalt. It should say: climate protection is a goal of the state. This is meant to protect the people of tomorrow.

Climate protection would be added to Article 35 of the state constitution. The party justifies this with responsibility toward coming generations. A state goal obliges the state to take the matter into account in its actions.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for a Klimageld (climate dividend). Revenue from carbon pricing would be paid directly to the public, which the program says benefits mainly people with low emissions.

The Greens want a climate payment. The state collects money through the carbon price. People should get this money back. This helps most those who cause little CO₂.

The climate dividend would be introduced through the federal government, with the state advocating for it there. Carbon price revenue would go straight back to citizens. The party sees this as part of a socially fair climate policy.

The Greens call for a precautionary strategy for adapting to the effects of the climate crisis. It is meant to protect against floods, heat, and drought, with a focus on especially vulnerable groups.

The climate is getting warmer. There are more droughts and more floods. The Greens want to prepare the state for this. They want more green space in cities and strong disaster protection.

The program calls for a comprehensive climate adaptation plan. This includes connected green spaces in cities, statewide heat protection, and careful use of water. Disaster protection would be strengthened and volunteer fire departments better equipped. The reasoning given is more frequent extreme weather.

The Greens reject wind turbines in forests in principle in order to protect the ecosystem. They would only be a secondary option, for example on forest land that is already damaged.

The Greens generally do not want wind turbines in forests. The forest should stay protected. Exceptions should be rare. For example, where the forest is already damaged.

As a possible exception, the program names so-called calamity areas, meaning forest plots with severe damage. Strict exclusion criteria would apply there as well. The position is justified by protecting the forest as an important ecosystem.

The Greens want Saxony-Anhalt to get 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. To do so, decentralized expansion is to be pushed forward and the land-area target for wind power kept.

The Greens want all electricity in the state to come from renewable sources by 2030. These include wind and sun. Enough land should stay set aside for wind turbines. Old turbines should be easier to replace with new ones.

Solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy are to be expanded. Regional planning is to designate binding areas suitable for wind power, with NATURA 2000 sites excluded. Obstacles to repowering, meaning the replacement of old turbines with more powerful ones, are to be reduced, and uniform high environmental standards are to apply to dismantling. For isolated farms and very small settlements, the minimum distance could be undercut if everyone affected agrees and protective measures are taken on the homes. The program sees the expansion as a locational advantage and the basis for locally produced green hydrogen for the chemical industry.

The Greens want to lower electricity prices for households and businesses. To that end, the electricity tax is to fall to the minimum allowed under EU law, Germany is to be split into several electricity price zones, and grid fees are to become regional and dynamic.

The Greens want electricity to be cheaper. The tax on electricity should be as low as the EU allows. The price of electricity could differ from region to region. Grid fees should also depend on region and time.

The program names affordable energy as one of the main goals of Green energy policy. The party points to the effects of the wars in Ukraine and Iran on energy prices and sees the expansion of renewables as a matter of sovereignty and security. The federal government and the state are therefore to push the energy transition forward faster together.

The Greens want people to benefit directly from cheap renewable electricity where it is produced, in order to raise acceptance of wind and solar plants. Citizen energy cooperatives, local citizen electricity tariffs, self-generated power and balcony solar units are to be supported.

The Greens want everyone to gain from the energy transition. Citizens should be able to run their own plants together. People living near wind turbines should get cheap electricity. People with little money should get help to buy a balcony solar unit.

The party wants to support the founding of citizen energy cooperatives and use the upcoming review of the state's Acceptance and Participation Act to remove legal obstacles. Municipalities are to provide their own land for renewables and be able to secure further land with the owners' consent. A funding program for balcony solar units is planned for people who receive social benefits. Advice on tenant electricity projects is to grow, and energy sharing, meaning buying solar power from neighbors, is to be introduced quickly in the state. The state energy agency LENA is to be strengthened and given additional climate protection expertise.

The Greens want to introduce a solar mandate for new buildings, for homes through the state building code. Land that is already sealed is to be used first for the energy transition, while ground-mounted solar plants are to be steered in a way that is compatible with nature.

The Greens want a solar requirement. New buildings should get solar panels on the roof. This also applies to company and government buildings. That way power is made where the ground is already built on.

For industrial, commercial and infrastructure buildings, the mandate is to apply to new construction and major roof renovations; for residential buildings, to new construction. Public buildings owned by municipalities, the state and the federal government are to get photovoltaics when built or re-roofed and be retrofitted step by step; a funding program is planned for municipalities. Ground-mounted plants are to meet high biodiversity standards, accompanied by municipal photovoltaic plans and participation models for citizens. Municipal utilities should stay in public hands where possible, build their own plants and receive state support.

The Greens want to enable more research and investment in geothermal energy and also see great potential in river heat pumps. Farmers are to be able to earn income from solar installations, and existing biogas plants are to be kept and used more flexibly.

The Greens want to use more heat from the ground and from rivers. Farmers should be able to earn money with solar panels. The state's biogas plants should stay. They should use less corn and more leftovers.

For deep geothermal energy and heat from bodies of water, the environmental effects are to be studied and weighed. For solar panels on barns and storage buildings, the program calls for clear rules and less red tape in permitting; it considers agri-photovoltaics worth supporting, especially on grassland and low-yield soils. Biogas plants are to supply power flexibly, a dedicated regulation is to make their operation safer, and more residues such as food waste and straw are to be used instead of corn. Bioenergy villages, energy transition villages and green neighborhoods are to get more support as flagship projects.

The Greens want to renovate, improve and, where needed, expand the power grids so that the growth of renewables and storage and the electrification of industry, heating and transport succeed. Decentralized supply is meant to make regions more independent and more stable in a crisis.

The Greens want to renew the power grids and expand them where needed. There should be more electricity storage. Modern electricity meters should reach homes faster. This keeps the supply safe even in a crisis.

The party calls for more overhead power lines and wants to remove the blanket priority for underground cables in federal law to speed up planning and construction. Smart meters are to be rolled out faster across the state to make consumption visible and manage loads. Large storage facilities are to be built mainly at grid nodes and near renewable plants, with priority for storage that supports the grid. Home storage and bidirectional charging are to be widely used; for low-income households the party plans a state strategy with subsidies. A further state strategy is to enable small rural municipalities to set up their own island grids in a crisis.

The Greens expect the coal phase-out in Saxony-Anhalt to come before the legal end date of late 2034 for market reasons. They therefore want to remove Lützen as a priority area for lignite and speed up the exit with a hydrogen-ready gas power plant in Schkopau.

The Greens think coal will end sooner than planned. So no coal should be mined near Lützen. A new gas power plant should be built in Schkopau. Later it should also be able to run on hydrogen.

Under current law, coal-fired power generation in the state ends by December 31, 2034 at the latest. The designation of Lützen as a priority area for lignite mining is to be deleted from the state development plan. The planned plant in Schkopau is to be "H2-ready," meaning it can later be switched to hydrogen.

The Greens want to support owners of heating systems in switching to renewable heat sources, on top of the federal programs. The focus is on low-income households and on areas where the switch is especially difficult.

The Greens want to help people change their heating. The state should give money on top of what the federal government gives. People with little money should get help first. Towns and cities should plan how homes will be heated in the future.

The program treats the heating transition as closely tied to housing: energy-saving renovation, tenant protection and fair heating costs are to be considered together. It gives municipal heat planning a key role. In the party's view, citizens and municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt need more support because of particular challenges, for example in areas with single-family homes.

The Greens want to make switching to climate-friendly heating easier. Renovation subsidies would be scaled to income, and large heat pumps would become a core part of the heat supply.

The Greens want more people to heat their homes in a climate-friendly way. People with less money should get more help to renovate. Applying for help should be easier. Large heat pumps should supply heat to whole city districts.

The platform calls for simple, practical rules for installing heat pumps. Renovation subsidies would depend on income, with simpler applications. Households without savings would get easier access to loans through state guarantees, and leasing options for heating systems would be expanded. Large heat pumps would be subsidized to supply urban districts, replace gas plants in district heating networks and heat new development areas. Waste heat from biogas and biomass plants should be used as fully as possible in local heating networks.

The Greens want renewable energy to expand in step with nature and species protection. Solar panels should go on roofs and sealed surfaces first, and ground-mounted solar farms would face binding ecological requirements.

The Greens want to build more solar panels. Nature should stay protected. Solar panels should go on roofs first. Solar farms on open land should follow strict nature rules.

Planning procedures would be digitized, and state agencies would get enough staff for that. Public buildings are meant to set an example for solar. For ground-mounted solar farms, the platform would require features such as hedges, patches of bare soil and deadwood piles. All five minimum nature-protection criteria in the Renewable Energy Sources Act would be mandatory instead of three. The farms should sit on low-yield land, such as wet, steep or stony plots, and municipalities would set soil-quality caps in their local solar plans.

The Greens oppose new natural gas extraction projects, especially those using fracking. They cite dangers to the environment and public health.

The Greens do not want new natural gas drilling. Above all, they reject fracking. Fracking presses gas out of rock with high pressure. The party says this harms nature and health.

The platform opposes new projects to extract natural gas, particularly by fracking. It lists contaminated groundwater, high water use and a greater earthquake risk as dangers. The party also points to air pollution and damage to the landscape.

The Greens reject capturing, transporting or storing CO₂ underground. Instead, emissions should be avoided as far as possible in the first place.

The Greens do not want CCS. With CCS, the gas CO₂ is caught and stored under the ground. The party would rather avoid CO₂ from the start. Industry should be rebuilt for that.

According to the platform, the priority is to cut CO₂ emissions as far as possible. This is to be achieved through new production processes, closed material loops and lower consumption. Support would go to zero-emission technologies and to turning industry into a circular economy that uses few resources.

The Greens want to keep building out hydrogen infrastructure in Saxony-Anhalt and to shore up demand for hydrogen. They argue the state's chemical industry will not be competitive in the future without renewably produced hydrogen.

The Greens want more green hydrogen in the state. Green hydrogen is a gas made with clean electricity. The party says the chemical industry needs it for the future. The state should support projects and buyers.

The state would back pilot projects, offer purchase guarantees and support regional hydrogen clusters. Backup power plants that can later be converted to hydrogen would also be subsidized. Green hydrogen and green ammonia would be produced in the state and used mainly as raw materials. The platform adds that hydrogen can also serve as energy storage.

The Greens set the goal that every university in the state operates climate-neutrally by 2030 at the latest. The state would back this with investment programs and a climate protection fund; animal testing is also to be cut to a minimum.

The state's universities should be climate-neutral by 2030. That means they no longer harm the climate. The state should provide money for this. The Greens also want fewer experiments on animals. They support research without animal testing.

A "pact for sustainable universities" would bring together the state government, universities, student services and climate initiatives to agree on joint measures. Positions in climate management and sustainability offices are to be made permanent and written into the target agreements with universities. The platform wants to reduce animal experiments as far as possible and give more support to alternative methods. For research involving laboratory animals, the Greens call for uniform nationwide legal rules.

The Greens want all state spending to be reviewed for its climate impact and want to cut subsidies that harm the climate and environment. State money is not to be invested in nuclear energy, coal or companies that use child labor.

The Greens want to check every state expense for its effect on the climate. If an expense harms the climate, the state must give reasons for it. The state should not invest money in coal or nuclear power. Subsidies that harm the climate should end.

A climate proviso in the budget would mean that spending without proven climate compatibility has to be specifically justified. According to the platform, cutting harmful subsidies is meant to finance protective measures for nature and climate over the long term. The state and its public bodies are to invest ethically and sustainably. In awarding subsidies, climate protection, the transport transition and small and medium-sized businesses are to take priority.