Berlin’s energy senator says cities must lead the way on climate action

Big cities around the world have a special and urgent responsibility to press ahead in the fight against global warming, Berlin’s Green energy senator Ramona Pop says in a guest article for the Berliner Zeitung. If the federal government fails to give the issue the adequate priority and misses its self-imposed climate targets, “we can and we have to do something,” Pop says. The heat wave that brought Berlin some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded shows “that we’ve already entered climate change,” she writes. Expanding solar power in inner cities, advocating for carbon pricing, better cycling and e-car infrastructure and more energy efficient buildings are just a few measures cities can take to accelerate the transformation to a more sustainable society, Pop argues.

Read the CLEW dossier Cities, municipalities and the Energiewende for background.