Climate neutrality together – by 2030!
Making Göttingen climate-neutral by 2030
This is us
We started our initiative “GöttingenZero” as a local group of GermanZero in June 2020. Our members are pupils, students, professionals and pensioners. We call on the city of Göttingen to become climate neutral by 2030. GermanZero is an association that, together with scientists, has created a climate plan that can make Germany climate neutral by 2035. You can find everything about their approach here on the website. An important part of this is pressure from below via municipal climate decisions, consisting of citizens’ petitions and referendums. Here in Göttingen we are also held such a climate referendum. You can find out how we proceed and how you can support us here on our website.
In cooperation with GermanZero, we have also created a climate city plan for Göttingen, which shows the scale of measures that need to be implemented for climate neutrality in 2030. A clear summary and explanation of the city plan can be found here.
This moves us
Global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions threatens the livelihoods of everyone on Earth. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, it was therefore decided to limit global warming to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The German Bundestag unanimously ratified this “Paris Agreement” in 2016.
If we do not drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately and achieve climate neutrality through zero emissions in a few years, however, we will not reach the 1.5 degree target– with unforeseeable consequences for life on our planet.
We also have a concrete vision of what a climate-neutral Göttingen could look like and what improvements to the quality of life could result.
This is a motion to the city council that we created together with a lot of support from various environmental, climate and social groups. The model here was a group from Münster. They also drew up a motion together with 30 groups and initiatives and then introduced it to the city council via the Left Party, ÖDP and Pirates. Together with the Greens and the SPD, the motion received a majority and thus became a done deal.
We used Münster’s motion as a template and discussed it with the other groups at the Zero Emissions Meeting (NET).
From then on, it was a matter of approaching members of parliament and convincing them of this motion by February 2021. On February 12, it was introduced to the city council.
In response to our motion, the city council factions drafted three more motions of their own and introduced them on February 12, 2021. Ulrich Schwardmann took a closer look at these motions and wrote a study on the climate policy effects of the Göttingen council motions on the Climate Plan 2030.
of 8000 needed Signatures
To keep up the pressure from below after the motion was referred to the Environment Committee, we launched a citizens’ petition in December 2020. Like the motion, this calls for a resolution on climate neutrality by 2030.
To ensure the success of the citizens’ initiative, we had to collect signatures and advertise. In the meantime, 9600 Göttingen citizens have signed a petition calling for climate neutrality by 2030, which means that we have reached the required number of eligible voters and submitted the lists for the city council meeting on July 16 2021.
The successful citizens’ initiative could have led to a citizens’ referendum in which all eligible voters in Göttingen could have voted on whether their city should become climate neutral by 2030. This decision would then have constituted a binding mandate for the city. However, due to the city’s declaration of intent to become climate neutral by 2030, which was passed in December 2021 in the building committee, the citizens’ referendum was averted, as the city essentially decided in favour of the petition with the declaration of intent. But to ensure that the declaration of intent is actually implemented, it is up to us citizens to continue to exert pressure on the local politics.
Our campaign work is divided into the following areas: Contact with politicians, contact with institutions and contact with citizens.
This includes contacting the local members of the Bundestag. In the spirit of GermanZero, we would like to take the climate promise from our members of the Bundestag. To this end, we want to discuss the climate crisis and the necessary political response with them on a regular basis. In this way, we hope to win them over to the package of measures for the 1.5° Act drawn up by GermanZero.
As the largest employer, the Georg-August University of Göttingen is now also in favor of climate neutrality, and in the course of the Bürger:innenbegehrens (citizens’ initiative) we have met with a lot of positive feedback and are ensuring that climate protection continues to be the talk of the town.
Find out more about us here:
