Environmentally and Energy-relevant Aspects of Housing Subsidies

The integrated approach to environmental policy resulting from the sustainable development includes an analysis of the environmental impact that even those policy tools have which are not primarily directed towards environmental protection. These include housing subsidy schemes, to which some € 2 billion in federal funds are allotted each year. The environmental relevance of the scheme derives from the Kyoto climate goal, i.e., the share of energy-based CO2 emissions by private households. The allocation of the funds lies in the responsibility of the Länder (federal states), which reinforced their criteria in terms of the improvement of energy efficiency and ecological criteria for subsidising new housing and renovation. Data on consumer spending for 1999-2000 were used to determine whether statistically significant differences could be found between subsidised and non-subsidised housing in terms of their heating expenditure. It was investigated whether subsidises have an impact on the amount of heating costs, and whether a difference could be found between Länder which had introduced energy efficiency criteria at an early date and those which had lagged behind until the late 1990s. As the empirical results show, significant differences in average heating costs were found (in all Länder) between subsidised and non-subsidised housing. The comparison also makes it clear that the additional schemes launched in the pioneering Länder to subsidise measures to improve energy efficiency have made for a difference vis-à-vis non-subsidised housing on the one hand and other Länder on the other hand.