In brief: The federal cabinet extends transition periods for efficiency and renewable energy requirements at data centers and relaxes waste heat utilization obligations to ease the burden on industry.
The federal cabinet has passed a bill implementing the European Energy Efficiency Directive, which significantly eases minimum efficiency requirements for data centers. The government justifies this with the promotion of digital sovereignty and economic growth.
The new regulation provides concrete deadline extensions: New data centers will receive four instead of two years to meet efficiency requirements. In addition, the transition period for complete power supply from renewable energy sources is extended by three years. The federal government estimates economic relief of more than 3 billion euros.
On waste heat utilization, the law deviates from the original directive standard: an obligation to utilize waste heat will apply in future only if a suitable district heating network already exists locally into which the waste heat can be fed. This relieves operators in regions without corresponding infrastructure.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche (CDU) justified the regulation by stating that “targeted rather than blanket requirements” would be more competitive and that particularly energy-intensive operations should be supported specifically. She linked energy efficiency to cost reduction and supply security.
The Greens and the Left have already criticized the bill prior to the cabinet session. They view it as a waiver of waste heat utilization while the expansion of regional infrastructure is delayed, and assess the deadline extension for renewable energy as insufficient for achieving German climate targets. The bill must now go through the parliamentary process.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published 24 June 2026
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