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First Climate Neutral Federal Ministry

© BMZ
At the BMZ headquarters in Bonn, energy demand can be reduced by around 50 percent.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been the first climate-neutral federal authority in Germany. The sustainability experts from Drees & Sommer assessed the buildings, calculated the potential CO2 savings and developed optimization solutions.

As one of the highest-level federal authorities in Germany, the BMZ is responsible for the country's development policy. It already supports many projects and activities aimed at climate protection and resource conservation. To contribute even more in this respect, the BMZ initiated the Climate-Neutral BMZ 2020 project in 2017. The goal of the project was to avoid, reduce or compensate for the BMZ's greenhouse gas emissions to such an extent that the ministry becomes climate neutral. To accomplish this, the Federal Ministry arranged to have the buildings at its two locations (Bonn and Berlin) assessed for potential energy and CO2 savings. This task was performed by Drees & Sommer SE, the planning and consulting company specializing in real estate.

As part of a plan to increase the energy efficiency of properties at the ministry's headquarters in Bonn, for example, a survey was conducted on four listed main buildings and other historical ancillary buildings, as well as the Deutschlandhaus and the Europahaus in Berlin. The result: energy requirements could be reduced by around 50 percent at the BMZ headquarters. By switching from district heating to heat pumps, emissions could be cut by a further 20 percent. In contrast, the location in Berlin has rather low potential savings, as the buildings there have already been completely renovated or refurbishment is planned in a few years.

For more information, please see our media release.