How will Jena become climate-neutral by 2035?

On Wednesday, 07.09.2022, the city of Jena will present the draft of its climate action plan at a public citizens' event and show how Jena is to become climate-neutral by 2035. All interested parties are invited to the event from 17:00 to 20:00 in the historic town hall. Admission begins at 16:30. There is room for 199 people.

The path to the climate action plan

Since December 2021, the city of Jena has been working together with target GmbH, many local stakeholders and the citizens of Jena on the Climate Action Plan. The aim is to show what measures Jena can take to become climate-neutral, what costs the city will incur and how much manpower will be required. The basis for this is provided by the city council resolution "Jena climate neutral by 2035" of July 14, 2021.

A steering group - consisting of 36 members from administration, local politics, civil society, housing companies, municipal utilities and many others - acts as the central body in the development process. The working group will meet for the fifth and final time on August 23. The measures on how Jena can become climate-neutral by 2035 were developed by the working group members in many different workshops and topic-specific workshops.

Successful citizen participation: Many ideas for the climate action plan

The people of Jena were also able to actively participate in the development process through various public participation formats. For example, the "Climate and Environment" round table organized the "Climate Day Jena" on 24 April, where ideas for the Climate Action Plan were discussed and collected. In addition, from March to the beginning of July, citizens were able to submit suggestions for a climate-neutral Jena via an online ideas map. A total of 811 suggestions were received.

The City of Jena's climate protection coordinator, Kevin Muschalle-Momberg, emphasizes the speed of the process: "The fact that we have developed such an ambitious climate protection roadmap for Jena in just a few months is an enormous achievement by all those involved. However, against the backdrop of the worsening energy and climate crisis, this speed is also necessary."

target GmbH is currently compiling the necessary measures and their descriptions. Once this draft climate action plan has been presented to the public, it will be presented to the city council as a draft resolution. If the city councillors approve it, the measures will be implemented.