A citizens' initiative aimed at pulling forward Berlin's climate neutrality target to 2030 from 2045 has reached the minimum amount of signatures needed for a referendum.
The initiative, called "Klimaneustart" (Climate Restart), reached the quorum of 171,000 valid signatures, the city's Interior Senator Iris Spranger announced on Tuesday after the senate meeting.
The Senate has not yet set a date for the referendum.
The initiative wants the referendum to be held on February 12, the day when the elections for Berlin's House of Representatives and the district parliaments are set to be repeated.
The administration does not consider a merger of the two dates to be feasible, however. Spranger justified this on Tuesday with legal requirements and organizational problems.
According to the state election administration, a total of around 254,000 signatures had been submitted at the end of the four-month collection phase in mid-November. The district offices have checked them for validity.
In order to hold such a referendum, at least 7% of those eligible to vote for the House of Representatives must have registered on the signature lists, i.e. around 171,000 people.
On a national level, Germany aims to reach climate neutrality by 2045.
