Citizens' Assembly on Climate publishes recommendations for Germany to achieve Paris Agreement goals

The Citizens' Assembly on Climate, formed earlier this year and made up of 160 randomly selected German citizens, has published a list of guiding principles and recommendations on how Germany can best achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, which it intends to present to the country’s political leaders. In its 111-page document, the assembly calls for renewable energy sources to cover 70 percent of Germany’s entire energy supply by 2035 and 90 percent by 2040. In the electricity sector, 100 percent should be achieved by 2035. It also recommends that every municipality develop a plan for the implementation of municipal climate neutrality in the energy sector by 2030 with the involvement of its citizens. On the issue of mobility, the assembly says public transport, bicycle traffic and pedestrian traffic must have priority over motorised individual traffic and, for long distances, rail must have priority over air travel. The group stresses that the fulfilment of mobility needs must not depend on income. The public space should become an attractive living space for people, animals and plants, it adds. Avoiding climate-damaging traffic is just as important as shifting traffic to attractive, fast and socially acceptable alternatives in towns and the countryside. It calls for all mobility-related measures and decisions by the federal, state and local governments to take into account with immediate effect the goal of extensive climate neutrality as a top priority. For the building and heating sector, the assembly calls on the federal, state and local governments to advance the heating transition through legislation and funding in the next two legislative periods in order to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius target. The heating transition should also be promoted through broad information campaigns and an ongoing dialogue between all involved.

While the recommendations are non-binding and could be ignored by German lawmakers, organisers say the results will show that the population is ready for effective climate protection. Similar citizens' assemblies in France and Ireland have produced surprisingly specific and far-reaching recommendations in recent years, according to the organisers.