Subsidy program: Grants help with the decision for green roofs

One of the owners who opted for such a measure is Jana Wardag. She and her family moved from the USA to Rumpenheim in early 2024: Their new build is made mostly of wood, has a heat pump and solar panels on the roof. "We wanted to go as far as possible in terms of sustainability," emphasizes Jana Wardag. As everything has become significantly more expensive in recent years, she specifically looked for support. "I then found the City of Offenbach's financial assistance online - that was one of the reasons for greening three roof areas of our wooden house." She found the procedure easy to understand: "I simply printed out the documents, filled them in and sent them off." The funding from the city was quickly on its way, and the sedum shoots were applied to the flat roofs in mid-May. Whether in the kitchen, living room or bedroom, the family can now look out of all the windows onto tenderly sprouting plants instead of dark concrete surfaces.

"Such climate adaptation measures really make sense," emphasizes Martin Rau, Climate Protection Manager at the Office for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection. Unlike photovoltaics, for example, the investments do not pay off financially, but through other positive effects: "That's why we specifically promote this type of voluntary measure." They lead to evaporative cooling around the buildings, they retain water on site and store it for dry periods - and thus counteract the increasingly frequent extreme events such as heat, drought or heavy rainfall. They also create new habitats for flora and fauna.

As 2024 has already shown, the consequences of the climate crisis are inevitable. "The city administration sees it as its social mission to avoid or minimize the negative economic, ecological and social consequences of climate change," emphasizes Mayor Sabine Groß. This was also further anchored in the Climate Concept 2035 adopted in 2021. At the beginning of 2022, the Environment Agency began providing targeted funding for voluntary measures in the form of an unsealing guideline: "This initially met with little response," recalls Rau. So the program was expanded in mid-2023 by municipal resolution and the funding rate was increased. "Our offer with the climate adaptation funding guideline is now more comprehensive and interest has increased significantly," says the climate protection manager happily.

Christoph Sahm has also submitted an application for a green roof and implemented it by mid-May: A green sheen stretches across the garage roof of his new house in Bürgel. "It looks much nicer when we look outside from the terrace, the stairwell or the work area." The sedum sprouts still need water from time to time. "Once they've grown for a year or so, they need practically no care as they can tolerate a lot of drought," Rau explains to the homeowner. Sahm found the funding "an extra kick to actually implement the climate-friendly measure". The online application process worked "smoothly and comparatively quickly", and he is really grateful to the city of Offenbach for its support.

The examples that Martin Rau visits on this summer's day are extensive green roofs. "This requires a soil layer of ten centimetres, which can often also be implemented on older buildings." Intensive green roofs with more diverse plants require around twice as much soil. In principle, up to 50 percent of the eligible costs are covered for all measures - a maximum of 40 euros per square meter and a total of 5,000 euros for extensive green roofs; the maximum amount per property (for all funding priorities applied for) is 10,000 euros. "We currently also have a number of applications for unsealing measures and cisterns," reports Rau. Applicants have one year to implement the measure once they have been notified of the grant. If you are also planning to install photovoltaics on your house, the climate protection manager recommends combining this with extensive green roofs if the roof pitch is suitable. This is technically possible and often better for the system: "Its performance is higher when the ambient temperature doesn't heat up as much." Ultimately, this applies to all of us in the 21st century - especially in a big city.

In addition to private property owners, companies, associations and organizations as well as tenants can also benefit from the municipal funding guideline for climate adaptation in Offenbach. Funding is available for measures in the areas of roof greening, façade greening, surface unsealing and cisterns. The contact person is Climate Protection Manager Martin Rau at the Offenbach Office for Environment and Climate, telephone number (069) 8065-2557, e-mail umweltfoerderungoffenbachde