In the year 1991, the town of Göttingen joined the climate alliance „Klimabündnis/Alianza del Clima e.V.“ and committed to a plan of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 10% every five years. Had the authorities stuck to that plan, we would be seeing a reduction of emissions to no more than half the numbers from 1991 – in reality, the numbers were still above 70% in 2018.[1] The authorities have fallen short of the reduction target they committed to.

In 2010, an integrated climate protection paper for Göttingen and its neighbouring towns, called „Integriertes Klimaschutzkonzept für das Stadtgebiet Göttingen 2008 bis 2020“[2], was presented with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2020 compared with 1990. And again, the target was missed.

In 2014, the town administration presented a „Masterplan 100% Klimaschutz Göttingen”[3], containing the town‘s zero-emission target by 2050. Unfortunately, the realization was far from successful. In fact, the plan‘s evaluation [4] shows that, instead of declining, greenhouse gas emissions have increased from 2014 until 2018. The majority of the targeted (and frankly put, modest) aims for 2020 were critically missed, most notably the expansion of renewable energies (only 4% instead of the targeted 18% of the total consumption of energy, excluding traffic). Photovoltaics, for instance, were thought to cover a capacity of 136 MWp – only around 10% of that mark were accomplished.

The town did not even fulfill its role model task regarding properties. The town’s energy report („Energiebericht 2012 –2016“[5]) documents that greenhouse gas emissions in its municipal institutions have, in total, increased between 2010 and 2016. The only notable (albeit small) saving was identified in the department of street lighting. In the evaluation report to the Masterplan 2020[6] in figure 11, it becomes clear that the town’s administration did not expand photovoltaic on its properties between 2012 and 2018.

Currently, the city has completed and presented the update of the master plan (“Climate Plan Göttingen 2030”). This work was published divided into a concept volume and a volume of measures. The city’s website states: “The new Climate Plan Göttingen 2030 describes the city’s climate protection strategies and identifies measures and projects for the next ten years on the path to climate neutrality.” [7]

As expected, the target year for climate neutrality (contrary to what the title implies) is still not 2030. Instead, the plan assumes the current federal government’s targets of 65% CO2 reduction by 2030 and 95% reduction by 2045.

This is far too late if we are to meet our commitment from the Paris Climate Agreement to make our contribution to limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees. This contribution is derived from the remaining greenhouse gas budget for Germany, which will be exhausted before 2030 with only a 50% chance of not exceeding the 1.5 degree limit if we “keep it up.”.[8]

The search for the measures and projects announced on the website also leave much to be desired: one looks in vain here for a structured timeline of the measures with milestones and an elaborate concept for tracking the goals (monitoring and controlling). It is therefore high time that the people living in Göttingen put pressure on local politics to finally implement substantial measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially in those areas where the city has clear opportunities to exert influence. These are primarily the areas of transportation, expansion of renewable energies, energy-efficient building renovation and new construction. Overall, however, a complete change of direction is required at the federal level in order to give local authorities the necessary financial and legal means to finally implement the effective climate protection that is so urgently needed.