Today (26 March) the residents of Berlin will vote on whether to bring the city’s climate neutrality target forward to 2030.
The referendum will decide if the current 2045 goal is moved 15 years earlier.
Berlin — like the rest of Germany — is aiming to reduce net carbon emissions by 95 per cent by 2045. Climate scientists and activists believe this isn’t soon enough. They say that the country will already have exceeded its carbon budget by 2031.
Environmental group ‘Klimaneustart Berlin’ or Climate Reset Berlin initiated the referendum for the city’s target for carbon neutrality to be brought forward.
With the support of local environmental groups, green search engine Ecosia and Fridays for Future, it is hoping to make the 2030 target legally binding with the vote set to take place this today.
What could the referendum mean for Berlin?
If it succeeds, the referendum could also make the language of the pledge stronger by replacing words like ‘target’ with more decisive language like ‘duty’. An interim target to cut emissions by 70 per cent could also be brought forward from 2030 to 2025.
Critics say that the estimated cost of bringing the date forward is in the billions of euros. They believe changes like building renovation and cutting back on private vehicles would take funding away from other areas like education.
If enough people vote yes, however, the Berlin senate will have to accept the amendment to the law and come up with a plan to reach climate neutrality by this date.
Why do governments need to bring forward climate neutrality goals?
The recent IPCC Synthesis Report urged more governments to bring forward their climate neutrality pledges.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that rich nations need to “commit to reaching net zero as close as possible to 2040” pressing a “fast-forward button” on their goals.
“This can be done,” he added. “Some have already set a target as early as 2035.”
Last year, the intergovernmental panel also said that a growing number of cities were now setting climate neutrality targets.
But, it warned, they could only meet their full climate potential by addressing emissions beyond their borders.
Which European capitals are already aiming for climate neutrality by 2030?
Several other European capital cities already have 2030 climate neutrality targets.
Mayor Sadiq Khan set the goal for London to reach net-zero back in 2020. The plan involves installing more heat pumps in homes, insulating buildings, cutting car journeys and reducing the number of petrol and diesel cars on the road.
The European Commission also announced a mission last year to make 100 cities in the bloc climate neutral by 2030. It involves providing funding for these metropolitan hubs to research innovations in clean transport, energy efficiency and urban planning.
More than 100 cities have so far joined the initiative including capitals like Paris, Stockholm, Rome and Helsinki. Berlin won’t be in the mission if the referendum is successful but several other cities in Germany are already part of it.
And the Danish capital Copenhagen is aiming even higher. It has set its climate neutrality goal as 2025 which would make it the first climate-neutral city. These plans have hit some stumbling blocks, however, with reports that a flagship waste incinerator project failed to get funding for carbon capture technology.