The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research’s scientist, Fritz Reusswig, believes that a climate-neutral Berlin by 2030 is not feasible. However, despite this belief, he still supports the referendum and sees it as a politically sensible move. Reusswig states that if a new black-red Senate were to form, it would act as a “brake coalition” in terms of climate policy.
The referendum allows Berliners to vote on whether the city should become climate-neutral by 2030 instead of the previously planned 2045. Reusswig thinks that achieving climate neutrality by 2045 is realistic, and by 2030, emissions could only be reduced by 65-75%. The costs of renovating buildings and distributing the burden on tenants remain unsolved, and Berlin cannot step in to intercept any resulting rent increases.
The Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies estimates that over 90 billion euros are required to make all buildings energy-efficient and climate-neutral by 2045. Reusswig notes that climate-neutral power supply won’t be achievable for Berlin by 2030 as there will still be electricity imports.
The scientist also deems a faster implementation of the planned ban on new cars with combustion engines in Berlin as unrealistic. The EU aims for only zero-emission new cars to be registered from 2035. Despite all this, Reusswig supports the referendum as it could lead to politicians creating socially acceptable solutions to implement climate protection goals. However, these solutions have yet to be seen in the “Berlin referendum” initiative.
Reusswig foresees only slow progress in climate protection if a new government made up of CDU and SPD were to form. He doubts that the CDU politician, Wegner, who aims to become governing mayor, would push for it like a green party would. The scientist believes that even achieving climate neutrality by 2045 would be difficult.
