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, now that the motion is to be discussed in the cities environment committee, we started a citizens’ petition in December. This, like the motion, calls for a decision on climate neutrality by 2030.

So for a successful petition, we now need to collect signatures and advertise. Let us get as many signatures as possible to show the city council: Climateprotection is an important topic for Göttingens citizens!

When the petition is successful, there will be a citizens decision, meaning that everybody in Göttingen, who is allowed to vote, can vote for a climate neutral Göttingen until 2030. This decision will then be a binding assignment for the city.

You can download the signature lists here.

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.