Darmstadt: Doubts about climate protection concept | Darmstadt

• fromClaudia Kabel

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Environmental initiatives demand that the urban economy be committed to climate goals. The city is planning a package of projects to make Darmstadt climate neutral by 2035.

While the “Parents for Future” initiative called for a demo for the nationwide coal phase-out in Darmstadt on Tuesday, the city is working in the background on its own climate protection goals. Almost a year and a half after the first “Fridays for Future” protests, the so-called immediate measures for climate protection are to come and initiate a transformation to a climate-neutral city. The measures have already been presented to the city’s climate protection advisory board. Criticism also comes from the panel.

There are 29 projects on the list to reduce CO2 emissions. The ideas concern measures to save energy, expand cycle paths and local public transport, and green the city. But according to citizens’ representatives who sit on the climate protection advisory board, the measures are not sufficient.

Environmental initiatives have now expressed their displeasure in a joint press release. “We are dismayed that the magistrate has so far not concluded any clear and reliable target agreements with the city economy for the sectors of mobility, housing, energy and waste disposal”, says David Grünewald from the district association of the German traffic club. Heag mobilo, Bauverein, Entega and EAD would have to be committed to climate-neutral management.

“The saving of the climate must not be subject to a financing reservation.” For the city’s buildings, for example, a refurbishment roadmap is to be drawn up so that these are energetically refurbished according to the KfW 40 efficiency house standard. The climate protection advisory board welcomed this project. However, it is important that annual renovation rates are binding, so that city-owned buildings actually become climate-neutral by 2035.

With the renovation rate of two percent proposed by the Bauverein, this goal would be missed and all buildings would not be renovated until 2070. The environmental protection initiatives are therefore demanding that the city provide the necessary financial resources and raise funds so that this can be done more quickly and in a socially acceptable manner.

Citizens’ initiatives further criticize that more than half of the measures of the new emergency measures program have already been decided in previous programs but have not yet been implemented. At the same time, the population has great support for this right now. “We do not ask for a concert of your dreams, just that the city actually implements the goals it has set itself,” says Heike Böhler of the Climate Decision initiative.

The city had decided in September 2019 that by 2035 the net CO2 emissions in Darmstadt, where the magistrate has an influence, should decrease to zero. This Wednesday the green-black town hall coalition wants to present the “Master Plan DA 2030+”. It specifies how the city should develop. Ways to achieve the Paris climate goals and urban climate decisions are also described. According to the city, there will be a close link between the implementation of the master plan and the new climate protection concept, which is currently still being coordinated.

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