GermanZero

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GermanZero eV
logo
legal form eV
founding 2019 in Hamburg
founder Claas Helmke, Heinrich Strossenreuther
Seat Hamburg
Office Franklinstrasse 27, 10587 Berlin
Chair Sina Arndt, Claas Helmke, Julian Zuber
Managing directors Evelyn Bodenmeier, Eva-Maria McCormack, Heinrich Strösenreuther, Jörg Tuchen, Hellen S. Wobst
Website www.germanzero.de

GermanZero is a German climate protection organization that works to ensure that Germany becomes climate neutral by 2035. The international legal obligation from the Paris World Climate Agreement of 2015, which limits global warming to 1.5 degrees , is to be complied with .

According to GermanZero, the central tool for achieving the climate goals is a legislative package that should include climate neutrality as a national goal in the Basic Law, introduce taxes on fossil fuels and review existing laws for climate compatibility. In order for the legislative package to be implemented by the next Bundestag, GermanZero is mobilizing citizens across Germany at the same time, supporting local climate decisions (see referendum ) and campaigning.

GermanZero sees itself as a civic initiative in the climate movement. The organization is supported by a network of more than 1,000 volunteer citizens, some of whom are also operationally involved in the initiative.

organization

GermanZero is a non-profit , non-partisan and independent association with headquarters in Hamburg and an office in Berlin, which is financed exclusively through donations. The initiative was founded in autumn 2019 by Claas Helmke and Heinrich Strossenreuther , who helped initiate the referendum for a bicycle-friendly Berlin ( initiative for a bicycle referendum ) in 2016 . Sina Arndt, Claas Helmke and Julian Zuber are members of the GermanZero board. Members of the management are Evelyn Bodenmeier, Eva-Maria McCormack, Heinrich Strossenreuther, Jörg Tuchen and Hellen S. Wobst.

GermanZero is a member of the Transparent Civil Society initiative and publishes basic information on objectives, the source and use of funds and the structure of the staff. 

Goal and forms of action

The central goal of GermanZero is for the Federal Republic of Germany to be climate neutral by 2035.

To achieve this goal, GermanZero uses various forms of action and campaigns:

The 1.5 degree climate plan

On December 17, 2019, GermanZero presented the 1.5-degree climate plan at a press conference, in which the main features of a cross-sectoral catalog of measures to achieve the 1.5-degree target for Germany were defined. The climate plan is based on the results of a climate policy future workshop in which around 30 German environmental and political experts from areas such as energy, industry, transport, buildings and agriculture took part in November 2019.

Scientific basis

The starting point of the 1.5 degree climate plan is the example calculation by the climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf , confirmed by the Federal Environment Ministry , of how much CO 2 Germany can still emit at a maximum global temperature of 1.75 degrees. In order to achieve the 1.5 degree target, Germany had only 2.4 gigatons available in 2020, which would have been consumed at the beginning of mid-2023 with an annual output of 0.7 gigatons.

Climate protection measures

The climate plan defines in an initial catalog of measures how Germany should become climate neutral by 2035 and meet the 1.5 degree target. This includes the climate-friendly transformation and rising minimum CO 2 prices in the sectors of energy, industry, transport, buildings and heating, agriculture, use and nutrition, as well as the reduction and restructuring of climate-damaging subsidies and the legal anchoring of climate protection.

Measures are also named that individuals can take to live more climate-friendly, for example in the use of transport, nutrition, electricity consumption and heating. As a leading emitter of emissions, Germany should also assume global co-responsibility and support other countries in financing and implementing climate protection measures.

Legislative development

GermanZero is promoting the creation of a 1.5 degree package of climate legislation. Representatives from science, business, politics and administration as well as civil society are involved in the development of the law and contribute their expertise via a digital participation platform. Stephan Breidenbach  leads the legislative development as an expert in legislative theory.

GermanZero's planned 1.5-degree climate legislation package has three thrusts:

  1. Climate neutrality is to be anchored in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany as a fundamental right to a future worth living.
  2. A CO 2 tax is intended to compensate for social or structural disadvantages that arise during the transformation to climate neutrality by 2035. The tax corresponds to GermanZero's demand for a fair climate change: Those who cause greenhouse gas pollution should share in the costs of climate neutralization according to their emissions.
  3. As part of the 1.5-degree legislative package, numerous individual laws are to be adapted and strategic levers to be changed, e.g. B. to regulate a traffic turnaround in rural and urban areas, a forced energy turnaround or subsidies for climate-neutral heating and numerous other measures.

This multi-stakeholder process is controlled by Evelyn Bodenmeier, who previously u. a. has developed a participatory multi-stakeholder model for the Tempelhofer Feld.

Campaigns

Referendums

GermanZero supports municipalities and cities in initiating referendums and referendums in order to make their own municipalities climate-neutral. The aim is to anchor the demand for climate neutrality by 2035 at the latest in a bottom-up movement in the regions and at the same time to push GermanZero's initiative for a 1.5-degree package of climate legislation at the national level.

The municipal initiatives are offered workshops to kick-off climate decisions, networking opportunities, templates for the implementation and design of the municipal initiatives as well as mentoring. As a central tool for the communal climate campaigns, GermanZero and climate scientists have developed a climate city map generator that uses local data to calculate where and how the respective commune can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a rough calculation. At the same time, costs, required investments and personnel as well as the job effects for the regional economy are roughly quantified. The climate city map generator can be used for communities with more than 5,000 inhabitants.

With the support of GermanZero, Essen was the first city to start an initiative for a municipal climate decision on May 1st, 2020. Since then, initiatives have followed in Konstanz, Münster, Berlin and Bayreuth.

Climate promise

Accompanying the municipal initiatives, GermanZero invites citizens to call on politicians to make a climate promise to comply with the 1.5 degree target. As part of this campaign, members of the Bundestag have been asked to make climate promises almost 30,000 times.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Climate protection - Citizens' initiative presents an alternative climate package . ( deutschlandfunk.de [accessed on August 3, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Isabell Jürgens: German Zero wants to make Germany climate neutral by 2035. December 17, 2019, accessed on August 3, 2020 (German).
  3. ^ "German Zero" - How a citizens' council wants to save the climate. Retrieved on August 3, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ GermanZero initiative - A referendum on saving the climate? | rbb. December 17, 2019, accessed August 3, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Michael Bauchmüller: Environmental Policy - Who Profits from the Climate Package. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Climate decisions - GermanZero - For a climate-neutral Germany by 2035 | GermanZero eV Retrieved on August 3, 2020 .
  7. ↑ FOCUS Online: Wind power - no thanks? How Germany is fighting against wind turbines. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  8. ↑ German Zero & Civil Society Initiative Transparent. In: https://www.germanzero.de . GermanZero, accessed on August 3, 2020 .
  9. ↑ GermanZero press conference December 17, 2019. In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfZ8gJzBZHE&feature=youtu.be . GermanZero, accessed on August 3, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Climate plan - GermanZero - For a climate-neutral Germany by 2035 | GermanZero eV Retrieved on August 3, 2020 .
  11. ↑ https://twitter.com/bmu/status/1113358751963197440. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  12. ↑ How much CO2 can Germany still emit? In: KlimaLounge. March 28, 2019, accessed on August 3, 2020 (German).
  13. ↑ Analogous calculation to Rahmstorf, Stefan (2019), with 420 Gt instead of 800 Gt. The conservative calculations presented in the climate plan relate exclusively to CO2 emissions from incineration and industry. CO2 emissions from changes in land use (e.g. afforestation) and forestry as well as other greenhouse gases (such as methane and nitrous oxide) are not yet taken into account.
  14. ↑ CO2 emissions worldwide by country. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  15. ↑ ZeroLab - The 1.5 ° C Law - GermanZero - For a climate-neutral Germany by 2035 | GermanZero eV Retrieved on August 3, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Melanie-Vivien Dudlitz: Chair for Civil Law, Civil Procedure Law and International Business Law • Faculty of Law • European University Viadrina / EUV. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Whoever takes part decides. February 10, 2015, accessed on August 23, 2020 (German).
  18. ↑ Climate decisions - GermanZero - For a climate-neutral Germany by 2035 | GermanZero eV Retrieved on August 3, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Climate decisions - GermanZero - For a climate-neutral Germany by 2035 | GermanZero eV Retrieved on August 3, 2020 .
  20. ↑ GermanZero starts campaign and takes the Corona climate promise from members of the Bundestag. GermanZero, accessed on August 3, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Climate promise. Retrieved August 3, 2020 .