Linke on climate and energy

The Left wants the state of Bremen to become climate-neutral by 2038. To get there, the goals and recommendations of the state's climate inquiry commission are to be implemented, also to preserve industry and jobs.

Bremen and Bremerhaven should be climate-neutral by 2038. That means they release almost no harmful gases. A commission made proposals for this. The Left wants to carry out these proposals.

The party wants to adopt the commission's pathway, its interim targets, and its targets for the energy and waste, industry, buildings, and transport sectors. The building blocks named are investment in transforming production with a hydrogen strategy, a state heating strategy, faster expansion of wind and solar, renovation of existing buildings, and a shift to buses, trains, and bikes. This is meant as Bremen's contribution to the Paris goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees if possible.

The Left wants to pay for the investments in Bremen's climate action plan from a climate fund for which the state takes out special loans. The fund is also meant to finance measures for social and economic compensation so that the path to climate neutrality is fair.

The Left wants a climate fund. That is a big pot of money for climate action. The state of Bremen should borrow money for it. The money should also help people with low incomes.

The program justifies the special loans by calling the climate crisis an extraordinary emergency. The most effective measures in the climate action plan are to be pushed ahead especially fast ("fast lane"). Households with little money should not lose income through the transition, workers should keep their jobs, and small and mid-sized businesses should get support. Climate policy proposals in the Senate, committees and deputations are to be checked for their effects on people with low incomes. According to the program, those who cause especially high CO₂ emissions should also contribute more.

The Left wants to set up a municipal energy company for Bremen's decentralized supply that does not aim for returns. Public companies are to play a central role in the shift to climate neutrality because, in the program's view, private firms cannot be bound to political goals.

The Left wants a new energy company. It should belong to the city. It should run soundly but not make profits for owners. Public companies should play a big role in climate action.

The program considers existing market methods unsuitable for reaching climate neutrality. Procurement law is to be changed so that private firms are chosen for competence, reliability and willingness to cooperate rather than for the lowest price. For heating and cooling networks, returning utilities to public ownership or founding new suppliers is to be examined, for example as cooperatives or municipal companies. The municipality should play a key role in rebuilding energy infrastructure. The recommendations of the climate inquiry commission are to be updated continually in line with new scientific findings.

The Left wants the state to support the conversion of Bremen's steelworks to climate-neutral production using green hydrogen. According to the program, the steelworks causes about half of the state's CO₂ emissions. Bremen and Bremerhaven are also to be developed as a hydrogen region.

The steelworks in Bremen emits a lot of CO₂. The Left wants to convert it. It should run on green hydrogen. The state should provide money for this.

Blast furnace 2 is to be replaced by a direct reduction plant running on green hydrogen. Plans include an electrolyzer and a power line to offshore wind farms. The state should above all secure co-financing for federal and EU subsidies and pay for further hydrogen projects. The sites of former coal power plants are to be used for producing, storing and distributing hydrogen. For green hydrogen bought abroad, the program demands social and environmental standards. The food industry, ceramics production and car manufacturing are also to be converted.

The Left wants solar panels on all technically suitable roofs and facades and a solar mandate for municipal housing companies. For wind power, new priority areas are to be designated and old turbines replaced with stronger ones. Bremen should take direct stakes in offshore wind farms.

The Left wants much more power from sun and wind. City-owned housing companies should have to build solar panels. Old wind turbines should be replaced by stronger ones. Bremen should take part in wind farms at sea.

Parking lots, highways and noise barriers are also to get solar panels, and heritage protection rules are to be reviewed for this purpose. Balcony solar units are to be subsidized permanently, with the grid operator Wesernetz covering the necessary technical adjustments free of charge. According to the program, new wind areas can mostly only be located on farmland or nature conservation land. The power grid and storage are to be expanded, as are small-scale neighborhood energy networks with tenant electricity and energy cooperatives. The program calls for climate action managers in the neighborhoods and more training of solar technicians.

The Left wants a state heating law and a state heating plan. The annual renovation rate is to rise from 1.35 to 3.2 percent, and passive houses are to become the standard for new buildings. The program argues that nearly a third of CO₂ emissions come from buildings.

Buildings cause a lot of CO₂. The Left wants a law for climate-friendly heating. Many more houses should be renovated each year. New houses should need very little energy.

In renovation, residential buildings with especially poor energy performance are to come first. District heating is to be expanded specifically where supply without fossil fuels is not yet possible, such as downtown. Added to this are heat pumps and solar thermal systems as well as neighborhood concepts for local heating and low-temperature networks that make geothermal energy usable. The program also names seasonal heat storage, heat pumps in the Weser river and more waste heat from industry.

The Left wants uniform action plans for climate resilience in Bremen and Bremerhaven, to be implemented in the next legislative term. Dikes are to be raised faster, surfaces unsealed and cool places created. Social conditions are to be a focus because, according to the program, heat and heavy rain hit densely built, unrenovated districts hardest.

The climate is already changing. There is more heat and more heavy rain. The Left wants to prepare the cities for this. It wants higher dikes, more green space and cool places. Poorer districts should get special attention.

The action plans include adapting the health system, more drinking fountains, public cooled places, community gardens and recreation areas. Unsealing surfaces and renovating buildings should not lead to residents being pushed out. Facades and roofs are to be greened by mandate, including in commercial areas, and streets are to become tree-lined avenues where possible. Gravel gardens are to be unsealed, and public green spaces and waters preserved. There is to be no building in the protected outer area; instead, the city is to be made denser inside while adding greenery. The Left also backs a referendum on preserving the plane trees along the Kleine Weser.

The Left wants to involve the public early in the shift to climate neutrality through a campaign and participation formats. All districts are to have repair cafés and material exchanges permanently funded by the city. The party also wants more places where people do not have to spend money.

Climate action brings a lot of construction work. The Left wants to inform people early and let them have a say. Every district should have repair cafés. People fix broken things together there. The city should pay for this.

The program names Bremen's COVID campaign as the model for the campaign. It plans more consumption-free zones, play and meeting places, and open spaces that residents shape together. Educational programs on climate action for children and young people are to be funded. Climate-conscious cooking and basic repair of everyday items are to enter school curricula. An urban-rural exchange is meant to teach about the environment, farming and food.

The Left wants to implement Bremen's hydrogen strategy and the projects of the climate pact and to fully fund the subsidized hydrogen projects. To produce green hydrogen, offshore wind power is to be expanded massively, including jointly with other northern German states.

The Left wants to use hydrogen as energy. This should make the steel plant climate neutral. That needs a lot of green electricity. So more wind turbines should stand at sea. Bremen should work with other northern states on this.

The program regards converting the steelworks to CO₂-neutral production as the most important project for a climate-neutral Bremen. To co-finance the EU and federal funds, the program says the debt brake is being lifted. Cooperation with northern German states on offshore expansion is to grow, possibly including state-owned wind farms. The ports are also to be used to import hydrogen. Local hydrogen production and cross-border infrastructure are meant to attract new industry.

The Left wants to advance energy-efficient building renovation through funding programs. New buildings are always to have photovoltaics on the roof, and renewable energy is to be factored into commercial investments.

The Left wants buildings to use less energy. There will be funding for this. New buildings should always have solar panels on the roof. Companies should also plan for green energy in new buildings.

Funding programs for energy-efficient renovation are to be set up in the construction sector. Photovoltaics and other renewables are to be planned in consistently for commercial investments. The party also wants to push for better legal rules so that solar power pays off economically.

The Left wants universities to develop binding sustainability strategies, fit their roofs with solar panels and undergo energy renovation. University construction is to be a budget priority and financed through special programs.

The Left wants universities to protect the climate. All roofs should get solar panels. Old buildings should be renovated. Special programs should provide the money for this.

The party wants to implement the recommendations of Bremen's climate inquiry commission on climate education and science. The universities' climate management is to become sustainability management with goals, measures and responsibilities. Sealed surfaces are to be opened up and green spaces created for biodiversity. Where roofs cannot carry solar panels, the building structure is to be adapted. New buildings and renovations are to be barrier-free. At the federal level, university construction is to become a joint task of the federal government and the states again.

The Left opposes handling climate investments through public-private partnerships. Instead, a municipal planning company working across departments is to plan and carry out the projects.

Bremen wants to spend a lot of money on climate protection. The Left wants the city to plan these projects itself. A city-owned planning company should do this. Private firms should not profit at the city's expense.

The platform assumes climate investments of half a billion euros a year and calls for enough staff and expertise in the administration. Alongside investment funds, money for new skilled workers should therefore be budgeted. The party wants to prevent PPP contracts that burden the budget over the long term. The planning company is to be set up as a municipal enterprise or public-law institution and provide capacity for all investment projects.

The Left wants to bring the district heating networks back under municipal ownership and found a new city-owned energy utility. The platform sees district heating as central to the energy transition and says it requires major network expansion.

District heating brings heat to homes through pipes. The Left wants the city to own these pipes again. Bremen should also start its own energy company. This should speed up the energy transition.

Bremen's currently silent stake in the network operator Wesernetz is to be converted into active shares so the city can help shape the expansion. In the party's view, private energy suppliers answer primarily to their profits. Energy supply should therefore be organized publicly again. The platform also lists founding the municipal utility among its budget demands.