In the final sprint toward a successful climate decision, the Hamburg residents heard once again a striking warning from their own city: “Already by 2050 there is a risk of a 3-degree warming,” warned the German Meteorological Society and the German Physical Society at the end of September at the Extreme Weather Congress in the Hanseatic city.
Three degrees would very likely mean climate chaos, a much more uncertain Earth – and that in just 25 years? This extreme worst-case scenario is scientifically controversial. Yet the essential message remains: the climate crisis is advancing rapidly.
That the goal of the Paris climate agreement, to stop global warming at a still bearable 1.5 degrees, will be achieved, is believed by almost no one anymore. After all, global CO2 emissions are still rising on average.
Climate Neutrality Five Years Earlier
The Hamburg residents are now forcing the politicians to step up climate protection with their referendum. The draft bill of the citizens’ initiative provides to bring climate neutrality forward by five years to 2040.
That the citizens themselves are more daring in climate policy than the politicians has happened on occasion. For example at the Climate Citizens’ Council that took place in 2021. It was organized by an association. The body consisted of 160 people from across the country, who were randomly selected and, with respect to factors such as age, educational level, and gender, representative for Germany.
In 12 virtual meetings they spent a total of 50 hours dealing with necessary and possible climate protection measures. They were informed by scientists, and discussions about energy, nutrition, transport, and housing were professionally moderated.
Citizens Are Often Braver Than Politicians
The result: far-reaching demands such as a rapid expansion of renewable energy, fewer farm animals and accordingly less meat consumption, a speed limit on motorways, the ban on oil- and gas-fired heating systems and combustion engines. Also, the participants of the Climate Citizens’ Council wished for a priority of the 1.5-degree target over other interests in all state measures. Only one of the discussed measures was ultimately rejected by the Citizens’ Council by a majority, namely the introduction of a city toll for cars.
Similar climate Citizens’ Councils in France and Ireland had already produced surprisingly concrete and far-reaching recommendations years earlier. The catch: the results were never binding for policymakers.
Nevertheless, the late former Federal President Horst Köhler (CDU), who accompanied the German Climate Citizens’ Council as its patron, concluded with a recommendation to the government: “The result sends a clear signal to politics: Do not underestimate the citizens!”
