The Munich district doesn't want to become climate neutral until 2045 - five years later than the Free State of Bavaria. District councilors Oliver Seth (Greens) and Manfred Riederle (FDP) see this as sending the wrong signal.
District
– “That doesn’t look good on the district,” criticized Seth when the district’s energy committee recently discussed the new version of the climate protection declaration. Ultimately, Bavaria requires climate neutrality by 2040 through its climate protection law. The cautious assessment of individual municipalities determines the district's objectives. At the first climate conference a year ago, 27 of the 29 municipalities presented their goals, although Ottobrunn and Haar did not take part at all.
The district is based on Unterschleissheim, which is at the bottom
It was already clear back then: the district would base its target value for climate neutrality on the latest target year announced by a municipality. The bottom place in terms of climate neutrality in terms of electricity and heat is now Unterschleißheim with the target year 2045. For general greenhouse gas neutrality including transport, Ismaning, Oberschleißheim, Planegg, Sauerlach, Schäftlarn, Straßlach-Dingharting and Taufkirchen also specify 2045 as the mark.
Oliver Seth insisted: “The Bavarian goal of 2040 must be included in our resolution.” It is important to him that the district pursues a vision and paves the way for the municipalities to achieve this. For example for the community of Unterhaching. It wants to be climate-neutral by 2030, faster than anyone else: “It can only do that if it builds three wind turbines,” said Seth and demanded: As a prerequisite for this, the Regional Planning Association (RPV) should designate the Perlacher Forest as a priority area.
“Don’t iron over it”
District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) assured that the district would issue a statement on this. He called the Unterhaching goal “particularly ambitious”: “I don't know how they want to achieve it.” Göbel doesn't want to put any pressure on the municipalities, he doesn't want to “iron it out, of course we're trying hard, but we'll continue to stay in the same boat .” Many cities and municipalities are approaching climate protection very seriously, “I also noticed this in Unterschleißheim,” but the requirements of the municipalities are very different. “The district is the sum of the 29 cities and municipalities.”
Manfred Riederle (FDP) once again criticized the Free State: “We have to address the federal and state governments where we see ourselves being hindered.” For example, when it comes to expanding geothermal energy, we need to demand more help: “We are obliged to put our finger in the wound and to say to the Free State that we are not making any progress.” The district with its geothermal energy potential could achieve neutrality in electricity and heat before 2045.
Per capita emissions have already been significantly reduced
At the end of the discussion, the district councilors unanimously accepted Göbel's suggestion to add one sentence to the climate protection declaration: The district is sticking to its target year of 2045. However, he still believes it is important to align itself with the Bavarian target year of 2040 for climate neutrality . What has been somewhat lost in this debate is the fact that the efforts are already showing success: in 2016, the district and municipalities decided to reduce annual per capita emissions to six tons by 2030. This goal seems within reach. In 2020, each resident emitted an average of 7.9 tons of greenhouse gases. The committee has now unanimously updated this goal: the district wants to reduce per capita emissions to 2.9 tons by 2030. Brunnthal's mayor, district councilor Stefan Kern (CSU), said: “We have already made big leaps, I think that's great. We just can’t get rid of the motorway traffic.”
Participation possible
The decision was also unanimously made for an interactive addition to the climate protection declaration: Households, companies, organizations and clubs can support the climate goal with their own projects, whether PV systems, balcony power plants, heat pumps, etc. The district is setting up a platform on which citizens, companies or clubs can publish their projects and exchange experiences: “Examples of solutions encourage participation and demonstrate feasibility,” said district climate manager Philipp Schramek.