The referendum for a climate-neutral Berlin from 2030 has failed. The supporters clearly missed the 25 percent hurdle.
Berlin has decided. Or not. Because although the majority of citizens voted 50.9 percent (442,210 votes) for a climate-neutral Berlin from 2030, the project failed because too few votes were cast. 48.7 percent of voters voted no.
A total of 2.4 million Berlin citizens were allowed to vote on Sunday. In the evening, the state returning authority announced that the required 608,000 votes – that would be 25 percent of those entitled to vote – could no longer be achieved. State returning officer Stephan Bröchler told the “dpa” whether the participation was slightly disappointed. He would have wished for a higher voter turnout, said Bröchler.
The “Climate Restart” alliance wanted to achieve climate neutrality in Berlin 15 years earlier. So far, the German federal capital is only to become completely climate-neutral in 2045.
The Berlin Senate classified the climate target as unrealistic
This means that by 2045 no more greenhouse gases should be released into the air that cannot be absorbed by nature. To do this, the climate-damaging emissions from, for example, combustion cars, airplanes or industrial companies must be reduced by almost 95 percent compared to 1990. Not only Berlin, but all of Germany wants to become climate neutral by 2045.
The goal of the “Klimaneustart” alliance to make Berlin climate-neutral by 2030 has therefore failed for the time being. This referendum was controversial anyway, after all it was doubtful whether the goal could have been achieved at all. The incumbent Berlin Senate classified this undertaking as unrealistic.
“Berlin says yes to climate protection, but no to false promises.”
Stefan Evers, Secretary General of the CDU Berlin
“The goals cannot be achieved with any money in the world,” said the incumbent mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) during the week and explained on Sunday: “We are aware of the urgency, even if the referendum has not received the necessary approval. We work to ensure that Berlin becomes a climate-neutral city as quickly as possible before 2045”
And the Berlin CDU general secretary made it clear after the referendum that “Berlin says yes to climate protection, but no to false promises. Berliners know that unrealistic goals or unaffordable laws would not help the climate.” According to Stefan Evers, it is now important to act decisively in order to achieve “our nationwide, most ambitious climate goals” as quickly as possible.
