Berlin votes on Sunday on making the city climate neutral by 2030, in a binding referendum that will force the new conservative local government to invest heavily in renewable energy, building efficiency and public transportation.
Climate campaigners gathered over 260,000 signatures in support of the referendum, which will make Berlin one of few major European cities with a legally binding goal to become carbon neutral in seven years.
Climate activists who initiated the vote say the government's target is too far in the future to prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius. They include a mandate to install solar panels on all suitable roofs in the city to generate around 25% of the city's electricity, in addition to expanding wind power turbines in the neighbouring Brandenburg state to supply the capital.
The referendum comes as Germany's conservative CDU party is negotiating a possible coalition with the Social Democrats in the city after its clear victory in a repeat election, driving the environmentalist Greens into opposition. Danny Freymark, a CDU Berlin lawmaker, said the initiative had a high chance of winning approval, but he would vote against it, saying a new binding target would deprive the new government of any leeway and would lead to disappointment.As a city of four million, with few renewable energy sources nearby or geothermal heating, Berlin lacks what is necessary to make that target more achievable, said Bernd Hirschl from Berlin's Institute for Ecological Economy Research.
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