Munich joins growing ranks of German cities declaring climate emergency

The Bavarian capital Munich has declared a “climate emergency”, joining more than 60 other German municipalities to have done so over the course of 2019, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung. The Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party in the Stadtrat, or city council, also decided to make the city climate-neutral as early as 2035, an aim for which the administration is to develop a plan by mid-2020. Until now, the city planned to be climate-neutral by 2050.

Spurred on by the Fridays for Future movement, more and more cities around the world are declaring a climate emergency. The city of Berlin in early December also joined the group as the first German federal state. The first German city to join the cause was Constance. An ongoing discussion has focused on the term “climate emergency” and whether it is appropriate for the situation, with proponents arguing that the gravity of current and future effects of climate change calls for it, while opponents describe it as alarmism.