Our way to the destination

Our goal is clear: we want a climate-neutral Göttingen by 2030. This requires a fundamental decision in the city, as the current climate target is 2050. As a civil society, we therefore ask the city of Göttingen, in a friendly but binding way, to live up to its commitments. To this end, we want to increase pressure from below with the following strategy.

1. The Motion

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 fromaus 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 was thus adopted.

We used Münster’s motion as a template and discussed it with the other groups at the Zero Emissions Meeting (NET).

From now on, it’s up to us to approach MPs and convince them of this proposal by February 2021. It was presented to the city council on 12 February.

2. The Petition

In order to keep up the pressure from below after the motion was referred to the environment committee, we launched a citizens’ petition in December. Like the motion, it calls for a decision on climate neutrality by 2030.

To ensure the success of the citizens’ petition, 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 16 July.

This will lead to a referendum in which all eligible voters in Göttingen will be able to vote on whether their city should become climate neutral by 2030. This decision will then constitute a binding mandate for the city.

3. The Campaigning

By this we mean approaching the local members of the Bundestag. In the spirit of GermanZero, we want to take the climate pledge from our members of parliament. To this end, we want to regularly discuss the climate crisis and the necessary political response with them. In this way, we hope to win them over to the 1.5° law drafted by GermanZero. You can find out more about the 1.5° Law on the website of GermanZero.