PRESS STATEMENT IG Metall on the decision to reform building subsidies

“Linking heat pump subsidies to local value creation is a step in the right direction for smart industrial policy. This is how we strengthen our economic base and employment, particularly in the heating industry and the skilled trades,” states Jürgen Kerner, Second Chair of IG Metall. Requiring local value creation as a condition for public subsidies should become a matter of course in industrial policy to protect us from unfair distortions of competition, the Second Chair, who is responsible for industrial and sectoral policy, continued.

“Equally, there needs to be significantly greater collective bargaining coverage among the skilled trades businesses carrying out the work, both in the interest of fair employment and consumer protection,” explains Nadine Boguslawski, IG Metall’s Executive Board Member for Collective Bargaining.

Focusing subsidies on low- and middle-income households is the right approach, according to Kerner and Boguslawski. However, reducing the total amount of funding sends the wrong signal for a heating transition in the building sector and represents a step backward in climate policy. The uncertainty caused by constant changes to the subsidy guidelines has had a negative impact. Reliable regulations can and must now prevent this from happening.

Further information and press photos of Nadine Boguslawski

Further information and press photos from Jürgen Kerner