SPD on climate and energy

The SPD wants Bremen to become climate neutral by 2038 and to invest in transforming the economy to get there. Money is to go into green steel, climate-friendly aviation, and the hydrogen economy. The program argues that the economic transformation can only succeed with substantial investment.

The SPD wants Bremen to be climate neutral by 2038. Climate neutral means the state no longer harms the climate. The SPD wants to spend a lot of money on this. The money is for clean steel, hydrogen, and the ports.

The program points to three billion euros that the state has set aside to secure its future. Investment is to go into green steel, climate-friendly aviation, and building a hydrogen economy in which Bremen is meant to lead. The stated goal is climate neutrality for Bremen by 2038. In addition, 500 million euros are to be invested in the ports, which the program calls the backbone of Bremen's economy.

The SPD wants Bremen's economy to run entirely on renewable energy, including green hydrogen, by 2039. Fossil gas, oil and coal are to be replaced in industry. The program presents this shift as a precondition for a sustainable future rather than a burden.

The SPD wants to move away from gas, oil and coal. By 2039 the economy should use only clean energy. That includes green hydrogen. This is a gas made with clean electricity. The SPD says this change secures the future.

The program names 2039 as the target year. The shift is meant to cover industry, services, ports, logistics and retail, and to be carried jointly by companies and the state government. The SPD justifies it with climate change and with the dependence on fossil fuels that, in its view, the war in Ukraine exposed. Workers and unions are to be involved in the change, and training and continuing education are described as a core task of economic policy. The program considers conditions for hydrogen in the state of Bremen especially favorable because of northern wind power.

The SPD wants to expand green hydrogen production in Bremen and connect the state to the northern German pipeline network. Bremerhaven is to become a test and competence region for mobile hydrogen applications. The party will look into funding innovative pilot plants.

The SPD wants to make more green hydrogen in Bremen. This is a gas made with clean electricity. Bremen should be linked to hydrogen pipelines in the north. In Bremerhaven, companies and researchers should test new technology. The SPD will check whether the state funds test plants.

Starting in 2023, a state-funded pilot plant run by EWE, swb and ArcelorMittal in Mittelsbüren is to produce hydrogen, more than 80 percent of which will go to the steel plant. Capacity is to grow to 50 to 100 megawatts by 2030. Through the Clean Hydrogen Coastline project, hydrogen made with offshore wind power, initially up to 300 megawatts, is to reach the steel plant by pipeline; further business parks could be connected. The hyBit research project, with about 30 million euros, studies how to set up a hydrogen hub in the industrial port. A test field is being built at Luneplate in Bremerhaven, including for electrolysis using seawater.

The SPD wants to generate more wind and solar power in the state of Bremen, using land in business parks, the ports and at the airport. The expansion of offshore wind is meant to create jobs in Bremerhaven. The reason given is sharply rising demand for green electricity and hydrogen.

The SPD wants more electricity from wind and sun. New wind turbines should be built. Old turbines should be replaced with stronger ones. Solar panels should go in ports, business parks and at the airport. In Bremerhaven, wind power at sea should bring new jobs.

The plans include new wind sites and replacing old turbines with more powerful ones (repowering), more solar energy, and support for locally produced green hydrogen. Solar capacity is to be developed in the ports together with the port operators, and large areas at the airport are to be made available for solar power. The program concedes that the state cannot fully cover its own needs but wants its own share to be as high as possible. For Bremerhaven, the SPD sees opportunities in testing, monitoring and supplying offshore installations, in component manufacturing, and in recycling wind turbines.

The SPD wants commercial areas to be built more densely and designed to be ecological and climate-neutral. Solar panels or green roofs are to become standard, and wind turbines should also stand in commercial areas. Bremen's distance and noise rules for wind power are to be revised.

Commercial areas should be built more densely. Roofs should have solar panels or plants. Wind turbines should stand there too. The SPD wants to change the rules on distance and noise.

Buildings and parking areas should, for example, have several stories. Besides large turbines run by energy suppliers, the platform sees growing demand for company-owned turbines on business premises. In the SPD's view, the current distance and noise rules no longer reflect the state of technology. New sites for wind energy are to be examined, for instance at the junction of the A 27 and A 281 highways.

The SPD wants to develop the ports so that hydrogen can be imported and transported onward there. In Bremerhaven, commercial land south of the fishing port, including the carbon-neutral LuneDelta area, is meant to attract green-economy companies. As much value creation as possible from the renewable energy build-out should stay in the area.

The SPD wants to get the ports ready for hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that provides energy. It should come into the country through the ports. Green companies should settle in Bremerhaven.

The hydrogen build-out is to be based on the results of an ongoing study. Projects under Bremen's hydrogen strategy, such as "Grünes Gas für Bremerhaven," a test field with up to 10 MW of electrolyzer capacity, are to continue. South of the fishing port, a large commercial development area is taking shape on about 150 hectares. A potential analysis is to determine how commercial and port land can be linked to water deep enough for seagoing ships.

The SPD wants to further expand shore-side electricity for ships so that far fewer emissions arise at the berths. It pursues the goal of carbon-neutral port operations and shipping without fossil fuels.

Ships in the port should get electricity from land. Then their engines do not have to run. That means less exhaust. The port should no longer harm the climate.

For seagoing ships, seven fixed shore power facilities with an investment volume of more than 30 million euros are being planned, to be built step by step between 2023 and 2026. One more facility is intended for the new research vessel "Walther Herwig 2." For inland vessels, the platform says shore power is available or being installed at all berths, and using it is mandatory. The SPD points to the "greenports" initiative, which has run for over ten years.

The SPD wants to expand research on sustainability and climate change in Bremen and strengthen cooperation among institutions. At the same time, university buildings are to be renovated to cut greenhouse gases and save energy.

The SPD wants more research on climate and sustainability. Universities and institutes should work together more. University buildings should be renovated. Then they use less energy. The campus areas should also get more plants.

Universities and research institutes are to cooperate more closely on sustainability and climate change, with the social sciences included. International networking in these fields is also meant to grow. The SPD wants to push for federal support to the states for climate-friendly investment in university construction. For renovation, it plans to use state money and funds from other sources. It also wants incentives for more greenery on science and technology sites.

The SPD wants to advance energy retrofits of existing buildings and make heat pumps, solar panels and insulation easier. Buildings in the worst energy condition are to get additional funding where needed.

Many old houses use too much energy. The SPD wants to fund fixing them. The worst houses come first. In return, landlords may not raise the rent. Older homeowners get special loans.

The extra funding depends on future federal subsidies, and landlords must in return forgo rent increases. For larger connected housing stocks, the public sector offers to buy the apartments. Older owners are to get loans with no interest or repayments that only fall due on sale or inheritance. The program justifies this with lower housing costs and jobs in the skilled trades. The state's climate protection strategy is also to be carried out in the building sector.

The SPD wants to require solar panels on new buildings and support this with loans. Municipal heat plans for every neighborhood in Bremen and Bremerhaven are to set the timeline for switching to renewable heating.

New buildings should have to get solar panels. There will be cheap loans for this. The cities should plan how to heat without oil and gas. More buildings should get district heating. Renters should find it easier to use power from their own roof.

District heating is to be expanded and announced in designated expansion areas so that owners can prepare in good time. The municipal housing companies are to offer more Mieterstrom (solar power sold directly to tenants), and at the federal level the SPD wants to greatly simplify the legal rules for it. Against heat waves and heavy rain, the program relies on green roofs and facades and on separating graywater from blackwater.

The SPD wants to advance timber construction with more pilot projects and make ecological building simpler and cheaper. Public builders are to lead by example.

The SPD wants more buildings made of wood. Wood grows back and stores CO2. There should be new showcase projects for this. When the city builds, it should look after the environment. The federal government should also give more money for energy-saving building.

For public buildings, the SPD wants to consider the life-cycle footprint and the share of renewable raw materials and to require a sustainable energy and mobility concept. Research into alternative materials such as cellulose, hemp or seagrass is to be funded. The program calls on the federal government for more subsidies for energy-efficient construction. It also wants separate extra funding for social housing so that rents in new buildings stay at today's level despite rising construction costs.

The SPD wants to meet the CO2 reduction targets set by Bremen's Klima-Enquete (climate inquiry commission) and take the necessary steps quickly in the next legislative term. The burdens are to be shared fairly, and money and staff are to go where they cut the most CO2.

A commission set climate goals for Bremen. The SPD wants to reach these goals. People with more money should carry more of the cost. Money should go where it cuts the most CO2.

The program names three principles: use funds and staff where they reduce emissions most, share the burdens fairly, and treat climate protection as an opportunity for the economy, jobs and the appeal of both cities. Government, administration, business, research and civil society are to work together. The SPD wants to support innovation in small and mid-sized firms, research and large companies and to form alliances of willing partners. It also wants to help skilled trades recruit and train workers and to fund hydrogen projects.

The SPD wants to cut the energy demand of residential and commercial buildings and switch them to renewable energy. To do so, heat planning for Bremen and Bremerhaven is to be pushed forward and energy retrofits sped up.

Buildings should use less energy. The SPD wants more heating networks and heat pumps. Old buildings should be renovated faster. Owners should get help paying for this.

The plan calls for a concept for the rapid expansion of heating networks and heat pumps. Besides extending district heating, local neighborhood heating networks are to be funded where that makes sense. The SPD wants to back federal retrofit programs and add to them where needed. The focus is to be on buildings with especially high CO2 emissions. New funding schemes are to be developed with the Bremer Aufbau-Bank (Bremen's development bank) so owners can bear the costs.

The SPD wants to renovate schools, daycare centers and other public buildings so that their energy use becomes CO2-free. Because regular budgets are not enough, separate financing schemes compatible with the debt brake are to be developed.

Bremen owns many schools and daycare centers. These buildings should no longer cause CO2. That costs billions. The normal budget is not enough. So the SPD wants to find new ways to pay for it.

The program sees the public sector as a role model in retrofitting existing buildings. Citing the climate inquiry commission, it calls the task the state's biggest financial effort. It expects investments in the billions. Financing is to be arranged outside the ordinary budgets but in line with the debt brake in the state constitution.