In 2015, the Paris Agreement resolved to limit global warming to 1.5 to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius. In Germany, this is implemented through the Climate Protection Act of 2022, which provides for greenhouse neutrality by 2045. Emissions are to be reduced by 65% by 2030 compared to 1990. The building industry and the existing building stock play a key role in this: the operation of our buildings causes approx. 35% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. A figure that illustrates the great - unfortunately not yet sufficiently exploited - potential that the building sector offers with regard to meeting our climate action targets.
Past experience shows that voluntary commitments by industry and the building sector have so far not led to a satisfactory energy standard of the existing building stock and new buildings. In order to increase the climate action potential in the building sector, an appropriate regulatory framework is needed. To this end, the DGNB, together with its network, is developing recommendations for political decision-makers in the context of the "Wissenstransfer Bau" (i.e.: Knowledge Transfer Building) research project funded by the German Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. In this context, the recommendations are initially to be regarded as drafts that are to be sharpened in the network and with stakeholders in a possible follow-up project. To make it clear that these are drafts, they are labelled as a discussion paper (WiTraBau).