The German government announced that it intends - urgently - to ban the installation of fuel and gas heating devices, starting next year, with the aim of accelerating the transition to devices operating on renewable energy.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the planned change in home heating was "urgent".
Habeck - who belongs to the Green Party - said Germany should speed up the transition to renewable heating to make up for the delays it had accumulated over previous years.
The plan, which was leaked to local media last week, has fueled escalating tension within the government coalition over environmental and spending issues.
The Free Democratic Party strongly rejected the proposal, which was prepared by the ministries of economy and housing, which are held by the Green and Social Democratic parties, respectively.
The proposal is mainly aimed at accelerating the plan included in the agreement between the coalition parties to ban new heating units whose energy is not produced 65% from renewable sources as of 2025.
Controversy over the schedule
The leader of the Free Democratic Party, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, told the daily Bild newspaper last week that the new timetable would have "catastrophic" economic and social effects, adding, "The plans must be reviewed from the beginning and reviewed from the ground up."
And the Minister of Economy returned to clarify that the transition from fossil fuels to environmentally friendly technologies - such as heat pumps - must be accompanied by the allocation of a package of billions of euros in financial support to enable citizens to replace heating devices in their homes.
"Climate neutrality should not and will not become a social problem," Habeck said, pledging to provide greater assistance to those in dire need, noting that there are still several issues that need to be clarified before the final draft can be submitted.
This includes preparing factories to meet the growing demand for heat pumps, a challenge the Minister of Economy said he believed could be achieved.
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