Germany’s municipalities can – and should – generally rule out hydrogen networks early on in the current heat planning process. This is the conclusion of a legal opinion by Günther, a law firm specializing in environmental law, which was commissioned by the Munich Environmental Institute in cooperation with Environmental Action Germany (DUH), WWF, GermanZero and Climate Alliance. According to the expert opinion, an area where a gas network already exists can only be designated as a hydrogen network area if the network operator has already made a pre-contractual commitment to a specific roadmap for converting the network.