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Heating with wood has been included in the CO2 calculator since last March. © IMAGO / Gottfried Czepluch
The Federal Environment Agency is confronted with allegations from the Union that it is accused of conflicts of interest. The reason is a debate about the categorization of wood heating systems as harmful to the climate.
Berlin – A scientific dissent is currently developing into a political autumn fire. Based on YouTube videos, the Union parliamentary group has submitted a request to the federal government. The critics attack the Federal Environment Agency and one of its employees.
Federal Environment Agency’s CO₂ calculator criticized
The content is about the carbon dioxide calculator of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), a subordinate authority of the Federal Environment Ministry, which is currently led by the Greens. In the CO₂ calculator, citizens can voluntarily enter, among other things, how they live, are mobile and eat and then find out how much climate-damaging carbon dioxide they cause. No obligations arise from this.
Last March, the UBA made a small change to the calculation of the CO₂ footprint of private households. The carbon dioxide emissions from building heating systems that burn wood have since been reported. That wasn’t the case before. So you now have to deal with the fact that one ton of beech logs or wood pellets causes around 1.7 tons of climate-damaging CO₂.
Debate about the climate-damaging effects of wood heating
The UBA is criticized by some scientists for this. Their basic argument: Burning wood is climate-neutral because only as much CO₂ is released as the tree has bound during its growth. The UBA answers this, among other things: If you don’t burn the wood but use it to build houses, for example, the emissions will be lower – the CO₂ will remain bound longer. The identification of CO₂ emissions during combustion is therefore useful in order to weigh up different uses of the “valuable raw material wood”.
This technical debate has now heated up and become more heated. Andreas Schulte, an emeritus professor of forest ecology, is heavily involved. In videos on the YouTube website he campaigns against “state-imposed ideology” and “pandemic alarmism”. He “warns about the UBA’s CO₂ calculator”. The authority should “try harder if it wants to fool the public”. Schulte is the managing partner of Silvavest GmbH, a consulting company for investments in forests.
Criticism of the Federal Environment Agency’s CO₂ calculator: CDU and CSU aim at “conflicts of interest”
His suggestions were taken up by, among others, the right-wing website “Axis of Good”, the AfD and the Union. The topic has now expanded significantly. CDU and CSU are now targeting “conflicts of interest” and suspicions of personal enrichment in the area surrounding the CO₂ calculator.
According to its own information, the Federal Environment Agency has commissioned a private company, the non-profit GmbH Klimaktiv, “to operate the UBA CO2 calculator”. For a fee from the UBA, a smaller version of the program runs on Klimaktiv’s server. In a further cooperation with the non-profit association “3 fürs Klima”, a larger version of the calculator is also being offered there, which is intended to reflect long-term changes in the behavior of private households.
Federal Environment Agency reacts to debate
Michael Bilharz, board spokesman for “3 fürs Klima”, is also employed by the Federal Environment Agency. The authority writes: “He has been working on issues of sustainable consumption since 2008. As a scientific advisor, he looks after the UBA CO2 calculator, among other things.”
This personal union has raised many questions. Bilharz answers, among other things, as follows: “As the responsible employee” of the UBA, “I am involved in the awarding processes for the CO₂ calculator, but without having any decision-making authority.” The office explains that the association is not paid for the cooperation. Bilharz adds that he does his work for the association on a voluntary basis.
The Union also addresses the donations the association receives. This also collects money to promote climate protection projects. “Does the footprint determined in the CO₂ calculator serve to make users feel guilty and increase donations?” the opposition wants to know. Bilharz said: In 2023, 250 euros were collected in donations in connection with the calculator – one percent of the total donations, which were essentially generated by the members themselves.
“There is no conflict of interest,” summarizes the Environment Agency, and the cooperation with “3 fürs Klima” makes “sense”. Nevertheless, the attacks had an impact. The UBA has now deleted the link from its website to the club.
