Without state start-up aid, the path to climate neutrality will be difficult - a number of funding programs have emerged from this political insight in recent years.

These are actively used, as now published access figures show.

One example is the purchase premium for electric cars.

The number of applications more than doubled to more than 585,000 in 2021, announced the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).

The authority has paid out more than 3 billion euros in funding.

This corresponds to 4.7 times the amount paid out last year.

A total of around one million applications have been submitted since funding began in 2016.

Julia Löhr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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In July of last year, the purchase premiums were increased significantly. Since then, buyers from the federal government and manufacturers have received up to 9,000 euros for purely electric cars. For plug-in hybrids that also have a combustion engine, there are up to 6750 euros. The purchase premiums are politically controversial, especially those for hybrid vehicles. The new Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has just extended the previous bonus system until the end of next year because buyers of electric cars often have to wait months for their vehicles. But then there should be a funding scheme geared more towards climate protection.

From August 2023, according to the coalition agreement, only vehicles that cover at least 80 kilometers with the electric drive should be funded - a requirement that many models still do not meet today.

For 2022, the access barrier is only 60 kilometers of electrical minimum range.

After 2025, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP will then no longer have the purchase bonuses.

11.5 billion euros for the renovation of buildings

The energy-efficient building renovation programs are also in high demand. There, too, the funds called up rose to a record level in 2021, as reported by BAFA. 1.45 billion euros were paid out accordingly. This is around 2.6 times as much as in the previous year. In fact, significantly more was approved: 5.3 billion euros, around 60 percent more than in the previous year. It is common for the money to be reserved when an application is approved. It is paid out when the construction work has been completed and the property owners have submitted the relevant evidence.

According to the authority, the largest share is accounted for by federal funding for efficient buildings. In addition, the installation of new heating systems or the insulation of external walls are funded. Heat pumps and biomass systems in particular were in demand, it said. Almost 94,000 old oil heating systems have been replaced with a climate-friendly alternative with the help of the subsidy. Depending on the measure and its energy efficiency, property owners can receive up to 50 percent of the costs as a subsidy. At the end of September, the grand coalition decided to almost double the funds for the “immediate building program” launched in July by 5.7 to 11.5 billion euros. The background to this is that the building sector was the only branch of the economy not to have achieved the CO2 savings targets it had set for it in 2020.

A lot of money has also flowed out this year from the programs specially set up for structural change in industry.

At the beginning of September, the Rüsselsheim-based car manufacturer Opel received a funding decision for 437 million euros.

The money comes from the European IPCEI program to set up battery cell production in Europe.

The Opel plant in Kaiserslautern, which was previously geared towards combustion engines, is to be converted accordingly.

Only the American car manufacturer Tesla recently declined, even though it had the prospect of 1 billion euros in funding for its battery factory under construction in Grünheide, Brandenburg.

Why is not clear.

Other companies can now apply for the funds that have become available.