Berlin鈥檚 referendum on climate neutrality by 2030 fails
威力彩玩法
A referendum in Berlin on making the German capital climate neutral by 2030 failed to garner sufficient support. Only around 442,000 people voted in favour of the initiative, which would have needed more than 600,000 鈥淵es鈥 votes to be successful, the city鈥檚 electoral commissioner . While 50.9 percent of participants voted in favour of tightening climate action, supporter turnout only amounted to about 18 percent of the electorate, short of the 25 percent that would have been necessary to enforce the binding law changes.
Berlin is aiming to become climate neutral in 2045, just like Germany as a whole. The referendum aimed to pull the target forward to 2030 鈥 a target that even many supporters of the vote considered unrealistic, given the city鈥檚 heavy reliance on fossil fuel transport and heating. The result "shows that the majority of Berliners also see that the demands of the referendum could not have been implemented 鈥斅爊ot even if they were cast into law,"聽said the city's outgoing mayor Franziska Giffey, a Social Democrat (SPD),聽according to a Deutsche Welle . Conservative (CDU) lawmaker Stefan Evers said the result showed that "Berlin says yes to climate protection 鈥 but says no to false promises."聽
Following recent elections, the SPD and CDU are currently in negotiations to set up a new city-state coalition government. They announced an early policy proposal for special funding of at least 鈧5 billion for climate protection.聽In a commentary for local newspaper Tagesspiegel, Daniel B枚ldt this funding commitment can be considered the 鈥渟aving grace鈥 for the referendum鈥檚 initiators. 鈥淲ithout them, the special fund would probably not have existed. With their unrealistic legislative proposal, they will at least have helped to comply with the existing climate protection law.鈥