In 2017, the Munich city government announced a series of features roughly under the rubric of its city development ambitions, briefly outlined (German) on the city’s website. It starts with:
Sustainability is an important goal for Munich's urban development planning. This is why, in addition to economic, ecological and social issues, it also addresses challenges such as energy system transformation and energy supply, adaptation to climate change and climate protection policy.
Part of this, says the web article, is the ‘aim to become climate neutral by 2050’.
While this aim was much welcomed two years ago, the acceptance by various cities around the world suggests that simply aiming to be climate neutral by 2050 is no longer ambitious enough. The aim now needs to be that Munich announces plans to be a net zero city by 2050, joining the likes of Barcelona, New York City, London, Sydney, Copenhagen and many more.
The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit lists the cities in its graphic (above) that have announced net zero ambitions. Munich appears to be neither a member of this nor of the C40 Cities initiative (nor a member of its affiliated cities). Of course, there may be good reasons why Munich is not associated with these groups. It will be worth finding out more.
Nevertheless, does Munich have similar plans to be a net zero city? This is a genuine question because I don’t know. If not, why not? If yes, how does it propose doing so?