Potential city of Berlin coalition plans to spend €5 billion on climate action

At least five billion euros are to be earmarked for climate protection in the city of Berlin, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Cristian Democrats (CDU) decided, newspaper Tagesspiegel reports. The two parties are currently in coalition negotiations following a re-election in Germany’s capital and say they see climate protection as a "core issue" of the envisaged coalition. A negotiation group from the two parties said the money from the “special climate protection fund” will to go into energy-efficient building renovations, green mobility and transport, and climate friendly heating. While climate protection is important to achieve climate neutrality, it “is also important to us for a liveable city,” CDU leader Kai Wegner, whose party won the re-election on 12 February, said. “That's why we want to put money into it,” he added.

The special fund would start at five billion euros but could be doubled to a total 10 billion after an “implementation evaluation” in 2024, according to Tagesspiegel. This would be financed through new loans, and the money would still be available to be spent after the current legislative period runs out in 2026, the newspaper reports. SPD leader Franziska Giffey, who heads the city-state’s government until the coalition is agreed on, said that additional investments are needed to achieve climate neutrality in the buildings, transport and heating sectors. She added that “no other federal state has such a special fund “in this form and in this amount”.

On 26 March, Berlin will vote on a referendum to bring the city’s deadline to become climate neutral forward to 2030, 15 years earlier than currently planned. Both the SPD and the CDU have been critical of the referendum.