The people of Hamburg tightened their climate protection law on Sunday. The changes to the law approved by the referendum must take effect within one month. Then the red-green Senate will be up to act.
With 53 percent of the votes cast, the electorate voted for the Zukunftsentscheid, the citizens’ initiative. It proposes moving the target date for climate neutrality forward by five years—from 2045 to 2040; by 2045, under current law, all of Germany is to be climate-neutral.
In addition, a linear CO2 reduction path with annual intermediate targets is established. These are reviewed; if targets are not met, the Senate must act. Over- or under-fulfillment of intermediate targets can be accounted for over five years. In the existing law there is only one intermediate target – a 70 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. The amended Climate Protection Act also provides that climate protection be made mandatorily socially fair. In the current law, only the principle of social compatibility is mentioned.
Many Arguments Against the Tightening
Opposition to tightening the climate protection law had previously come not only from the CDU and the SPD but from an entire array of associations—led by the housing industry, which warned of rapidly rising and higher rents, while the Hamburg Tenant Association dismissed this as fear-mongering. Industry representatives warned of overburdening the economy—although companies themselves had set the target of climate neutrality by 2040 through the Chamber of Commerce.
“Hamburg is now the only federal state whose people have given themselves their own climate protection law,” commented the initiators of the Zukunftsentscheid on their success. “Because they have decided not to sit back any longer, but to take the necessary measures.” Now Hamburg’s climate policy will be social, planable, and responsible.
For the red-green Senate, this now creates the necessity to pace its climate protection work program more tightly and to invest political capital in it—in the hope that supporters of the Zukunftsentscheid, after their success, will not simply let their hands drop.
First, Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) and Deputy Mayor Katharina Fegebank (Greens) pointed out that there is “no reason for acting rashly” (Fegebank), because the reduction path to 2030 does not change. Only the emissions would have to be estimated more quickly and precisely by then.
For the further path, the Senate already has a kind of blueprint: during the campaign for the Zukunftsentscheid, the Senate commissioned the Öko-Institut and the Hamburg Institute in mid-September to study what would have to be done to make Hamburg climate-neutral by 2040. The consultants deemed it possible, but warned: “Shifting the target of net CO2-neutrality to the year 2040 would entail substantial additional efforts that, depending on design, could lead to noticeable extra burdens for private households, businesses, and the state budget.”
Studies: In the City, a 30 km/h Speed Limit Should Apply
According to the study, the gas network must be shut down and the district heating network expanded more quickly. In the city, a speed limit of 30 km/h should apply and cars should run only on electric power. The network of buses and trains would have to be densified and improved just as the cycling network. Industry would have to replace fossil energy with hydrogen and e-fuels. Building heating systems would have to be switched to renewable energy, and the expansion of wind and solar energy would have to be accelerated.
It remains open how expensive this will be. Andreas Breitner, director of the Association of Northern German Housing Companies, which mainly represents cooperatives and municipal enterprises, had calculated this in the Salon on Zukunftsentscheid: if the climate target is moved forward, his members would have to take out more loans in a shorter time and back them with equity. The latter could only be achieved by rent increases for some companies.
Rolf Bosse, the chairman of the Hamburg Tenant Association, emphasized the advantages of energy-efficient renovation: “Who lives in a modernized apartment has no mold and saves on heating costs.” The corresponding rent increases are legally capped. Bosse urged supporting private landlords. Many people do not know how to proceed. “They deserve the greatest support,” Bosse said.
The climate-friendly mobility transition is already one of the coalition’s major projects. “If you can’t find fault with us in one area, it’s transport,” says Environmental Senator Fegebank. Indeed, the Senate has significantly improved conditions for cycling and plans the Hamburg-Takt: by 2030, every Hamburg resident should be able to reach a public mobility option within five minutes from morning to evening.
On the other hand, the SPD announced a parking removal moratorium before the latest Bürgerhaus election and is counting on the expansion of subways. The Senate has so far shown no appetite for introducing a tram system that would be cheaper and more accessible.
This Path Is Quite Rocky
Even in energy supply, the Senate has set out on a path. It has become clear, however, that this path is quite rocky. Expanding the district heating network takes time, and its shift to renewable energy has repeatedly been delayed. Some projects, such as the idea of burning Buschholz from Namibia, failed due to political resistance and also because the bar for climate neutrality was raised.
Nevertheless, stricter climate protection efforts also offer opportunities. The Senate aims to make Hamburg a hub for the hydrogen economy. A large electrolyzer should convert excess wind power into hydrogen, which could be used by industry as a climate-neutral feedstock. The project is progressing, but all the city’s original partners have withdrawn.
Who lives in a modernized apartment has no mold and saves on heating costs
Rolf Bosse, Chairman of the Hamburg Tenant Association
After all, the new climate protection law is not as rigid and inflexible as Norbert Aust, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, claims. Although there is a year-by-year gradual reduction in total CO2 emissions, if one year sees a large jump—for example when a river heat pump is brought online—the plan-scheduled CO2 reductions can be carried forward to the following years.
In addition, the law acknowledges that Hamburg’s attainment of the 2040 target will also depend on federal and EU-level framework conditions—for instance, whether the electrification of cars is advanced accordingly. If the target path can only be met by measures outside the Senate’s regulatory competence, then it is out of reach for them.
