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We are making Berlin climate resilient through a referendum!

Berliners want policies that protect them from heat and other extreme weather events. Summers are getting hotter and the weather more extreme: the city, our neighbourhoods, homes and workplaces are heating up. Heavy rain floods basements and streets. In many places there are not enough shady and cool places, like trees and parks, to find shelter. Rainwater doesn’t have enough impervious surfaces through which to infiltrate the soil during heavy downpours, which causes the sewage system to overflow. The damage not only drives up taxes and insurance premiums, it also hits older people and small children particularly hard. BaumEntscheid wants to ensure that the Senate of Berlin protects Berliners. We want a climate-resilient Berlin!

What we’re doing

A view of Berlin with single-family homes surrounded by greenery in the foreground and the TV tower in the background

Giving Berlin the choice

After a successful second collection phase, all eligible voters in Berlin can vote on the Berlin Climate Adaptation Bill in a referendum. For the referendum to be successful, YES-votes must outnumber NO-votes and a minimum of 613,00 YES-votes must be cast. If this is the case, the law for a climate-resilient Berlin will come into force immediately – without further negotiations or political haggling.

A female volunteer from the tree decision wearing a green vest on the street talking to another person

Collecting signatures

In order for the citizens’ initiative to become a referendum, we have to ask our fellow citizens of Berlin who are eligible to vote for signatures to support our project twice. For the first phase, at least 20,000 valid signatures are needed. In the second phase, ten times more, around 200,000, are needed. Our first collection phase started on 7 October and will last until 8 November 2024. Here you learn more about helping us to collect signatures.

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Join us now

Two male volunteers from the tree decision at the desk

Drafted the bill

Together with over 100 experts and lawyers, we wrote the Berlin Climate Adaptation Bill (KAnGBln) between January and May 2024, after having initially started the project in August 2023. We have delivered Germany’s first concrete climate adaptation bill for local government implementation. If we are successful, Berliners will vote on our bill in a referendum. Find out more here.

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Signature collection start – let’s go!

A geographical map of Berlin, in which districts with particular heat stress are marked in red

Starting today, we are collecting signatures to put our climate adaptation bill to a referendum. We want to make Berlin climate resilient and heatproof. Are you with us? You can find more information here.

Do you live in an urban heat hot spot? Find out now by clicking on the map of Berlin.

Berlin’s Environmental Justice Atlas let’s us see it clearly: in many neighbourhoods, summer temperatures reach dangerous levels, especially in low-income areas.
The urban planning areas framed in white on the map above show have a so-called low social index – and this is exactly where inhabitants are more likely to experience extreme heat.

Source: Stefan Lehmkühler based on Berlin’s Environmental Justice Atlas 21/22

Sign now: Petition #hitzefrei for protecting employees from extreme heat

Lettering Petition Heat-free at work with picture of a thermometer

With our petition #hitzefrei for protecting employees from extreme heat, we are calling for current occupational health and safety regulations to be adapted to the increasingly frequent heat waves. Sign now for the right to take off work on extremely hot days, flexible working hours and more.

Initial Senate cost estimate received
July 2024

Park in Berlin in front of the silhouette of the city

The Senate of Berlin estimates that €750 million per year and a total of €12.1 billion will have to be invested in protection against extreme weather events by 2040 in order to ensure climate adaptation in Berlin. If Berlin is to still be cooled by urban greenery in 20 years, action must be taken now, given the 50 to 90% disease rates of trees by the roadside and in forests.

Handover of the draft bill
May 2024

Volunteers from the tree decision hand over the draft law to an administrative employee on the steps of the Senate Administration in Berlin

It’s a bill! On 25 May 2024, we submitted the first concrete climate adaptation bill for local implementation to the Senate of Berlin for review. By citizens for citizens: many individuals volunteered their time for the writing process. Thank you!

Umweltfestival

April 2024

Volunteers from the tree decision wearing green vests at a stand at the Berlin Environmental Festival. One person holds a cardboard sign

BaumEntscheid had a stand to represent itself at Berlin’s Umweltfestival. We had many inspiring conversations with Berlin residents and were pleased to recruit more volunteers.

Demo against the Faster Felling Act April 2024

Volunteers from the tree decision together with other activists at a demonstration. A male person holds a sign that says Protect all trees

BaumEntscheid responded to Senator Gaebler’s presentation of the Faster Felling Act – perhaps better known as the Faster Building Act (Schneller-Bauen-Gesetz) – with a demonstration in front of Rotes Rathaus. Together with NABU, Omas for Future, Naturfreunde Berlin and many other organisations, we demand: Urban development is not possible without urban greenery.