The Law on Saving Energy and Using Renewable Energies for Heating and Cooling in Buildings is the official title of this document. It replaces the Act for the Promotion of Renewable Energies in the Heat Sector (EEWärmeG), the Energy Conservation Act (Energieeinsparungsgesetz, EnEG), and the Energy Saving Ordinance (Energieinsparverordnung, EnEV). The new Buildings Energy Act lays forth specifications for how energy-efficient buildings must be, how energy performance certificates must be issued and used, and how renewable energy sources must be used in structures.

The Act was amended in 2022, and the change became effective at the start of 2023. The modified Act upped the requirements for new construction and lowered the yearly energy consumption cap from 75% to 55%.

A further amendment adopted in October 2023 introduced the so-called 65% renewable energy requirement for newly installed heating systems. Since 1 January 2024, new heating systems in certain new buildings must operate with at least 65% renewable energy, with the requirement phased in for existing buildings depending on municipal heat planning timelines. Compliance pathways include heat pumps, district heating, hybrid systems and biomass, alongside defined exemptions.

In February 2026, the Federal Government presented an Eckpunktepapier outlining potential further revisions, including a technology-open catalogue of heating options that would continue to allow gas and oil heating systems to be installed, subject to a gradually increasing minimum share of climate-neutral fuels (“Bio-Treppe”), starting at 10% from 1 January 2029 and rising in stages until 2040. These proposed changes would likely weaken the mitigation impact of the current framework as it revokes the earlier de facto ban on new oil and gas boilers in new and existing buildings.