Demands of the Klimacamp Augsburg

See Forderungen for the German version of our demands.

1. Compliance with the 1.5°C agreement

Communication of the carbon budget
The city should adapt and openly communicate a carbon budget that is compatible with keeping global warming below 1.5°C according to the SR15 report by the IPCC. The climate camp suggested 9.7 million tons CO₂ for the city of Augsburg.
✅ The communal advisory council on climate echoed this demand to the city. Finally in January 2021 the intention to stay within the suggested budget was adopted by the city.
Socially just implementation of climate protection measures
The measures to stay within the carbon budget have to be implemented in a socially fair fashion.
❌ The city hasn‘t adopted sufficient measures as of yet to stay within its intended carbon budget.
Safeguards for local ecosystems
❌ The local ecosystems are still under threat from infrastructure projects that originate from an outdated mentality.
Examples:
- The forest and grassland along the river Lech is threatened by a proposed highway, the so-called “Osttangente” (engl. “east bypass”).
  An independent action group called Aktionsbündnis Keine Osttangente) (engl. “Action Group No East Bypass”) has been working against the Osttangente for years.
- The city council is planning to cut down old trees within the city area. A plan to cut down 44 trees in front of the main station has recently achieved media attention and criticism. The city was forced to postpone the decision on the plan, but hasn‘t abandoned it as of yet. Similar plans exist for cutting down trees in the Fuggerstraße north of the Königsplatz. Other plans receive less attention and sometimes get implemented before sufficient protest against them can form.
  The Baumallianz Augsburg e.V. (engl. “Tree Alliance Augsburg Association”) is trying to protect old trees within the city‘s boundaries.
- (Technically not the city of Augsburg:) The Lohwald, a forest near Meitingen just north of Augsburg, is threatened by the extension of a steel mill.
  In the beginning of October 2022 the Bund Naturschutz, the Klimacamp and other initiatives took legal action against the planned deforestation.
  In a surprise action in the middle of October 2022 one third of the forest was destroyed. We consider it likely that this deforestation has been illegal.
  We support the local protest against this project. See: https://www.lohwibleibt.de/
  A photo reportage of the forest and surrounding areas can be found at https://www.lohwibleibt.de/fotoreportage_2023/.
- (Technically not the city of Augsburg:) Parts of the Bobinger Auwald, an alluvial forest south of Augsburg, are threatened by plans of Wehringen to extend an industrial park located within the forest. Despite the forest being closer to a residential area of the town of Bobingen, it belongs to the muncipality of Wehringen.
  In February 2023 Wehringen used a similar surprise action to cut down the trees in the area. We supported the local protest against this project. See: https://www.bobinger-auwald-bleibt.de/

For further information on the IPCC reports see our overview over the latest IPCC reports.

2. Energy transition of Augsburg

Augsburg free of coal-based power until 2023
The Stadtwerke Augsburg (swa) are the city-owned communal utilities company that is responsible for electricity, water, heating and public transport. Parts of their portfolio is coal-based and they own shares in fossil gas companies. We demand a phase-out of coal-based power from the city including the city-owned companies like the swa.
❌ While there have been some improvements, the Stadtwerke still sell coal-based electricity to its business customers. The carbon emissions per kWh on their business energy tariff far exceed the national average.
Fast extension of solar and wind power
The city should extend its efforts to generate solar and wind energy within the city limits.
❌ There have been a few efforts by the city, but they are still in an early stage. For example it is working on compulsary installation of solar systems on the roofs of development areas. Efforts to install wind turbines within the city limits are stalling. One major factor is the German military Bundeswehr, which puts height limitations for wind power plants over wast parts of the region.
Positioning against the continued dependence on coal
The city has to take a stance against the federal law from 3rd July 2020, which prolonges the phase-out of coal in Germany until 2038.
❌ Criticism by city officials on the law has been tame.

3. Mobility transition

We differentiate between a true “mobility transition”, which improves public transport and makes the city more friendly towards cycling and walking, and an insufficent Antriebswende (engl. “propulsion transition”), which suggests to keep mobility as is with merely replacing fossil-fuel driven cars by electric cars.

Implementation of the demands of “Fahrradstadt jetzt”
“Fahrradstadt jetzt” (engl. “Bicycle City Now”) is a group that organized a petition for a referendum for a more cycling-friendly Augsburg. The name of the group is a play on words with “Fahrradstadt 2020”. “Fahrradstadt 2020” was an initiative by the city from 2012 to make Augsburg more cycling-friendly by 2020. The initiative failed totally.
The petition was successful. To avoid a referendum the city entered into a contract with the organizers of “Fahrradstadt jetzt”. The contract is a good first step, but to make Augsburg truely cycling-friendly, more actions are necessary than just the ones that are specified in the contract.
❔ The city has implemented some of the steps towards a more cycling-friendly Augsburg to which it agreed in the contract, but much more has to be done.
Expansion of public transport
The city has to improve public transport both in quantity and quality.
❌ The policy of the city is still very focussed on cars. The trams still go less frequent than before the pandemic. While the connections from some outer districts into the center of the city are acceptable, connections between outer districts are inadequate.
However, there has been an shift in the city governments‘s communication. City officials repeat again and again that zones with low car traffic, a reduction of parking space in the city center and improvements for cyclists, walkers and public transport are going to be the corner stones of the mobility plan, which is going to specify the city‘s plans from the second half of the 2020s until 2038. Sadly, implementation is still years ahead.
Free of charge usage of public transport
❌ The city fails completely in making public transport affordable. In 2021 alone there have been two independent increases of the ticket prices. There is a small zone within the inner city, where public transport is free of charge. However, the area is to small to have a big effect.
Discontinuation of the project “Osttangente”
The project “Osttangente” aims at building a highway through Bavaria‘s largest connected alluvial forest – an important and unique ecosystem.
❌ The idea of the Osttangente is still haunting regional politics.

In autumn 2021 a study commissioned by the city confirmed our claims that a simple propulsion transition is insufficient to reach climate neutrality in Augsburg‘s mobility sector sufficiently fast to comply with the 1.5°C limit. The study recommends a 50% reduction of car traffic in Augsburg till 2040.
Source: study “Klimaschutz 2030: Studie für ein Augsburger Klimaschutzprogramm” page 47

To counter the inaction and lack of ideas in city council, activists created the “Verkehrswendeplan Augsburg” (engl. “mobility transition plan Augsburg”). It provides a vision containing proposed tram routes, bicycle boulevards, train stations, bus routes and car-free zones. The activists created high-resolution maps of this vision and explanatory texts.

System change instead of climate change

Our demands aim at providing the foundations for everyone to have a happy, socially fair, climatically just, free and good life.

Additional information available in German

The German parts of our homepage contain articles in which we explain certain concepts with relevance to our demands.

In Konsumkritikkritik – Kritik an Konsumkritik we write about the subtleties of consumer critique and why it is often misplaced. We explain why we address our demands mainly towards politicians, only sometimes towards companies and even less often towards individuals. Also we tell how BP popularized the concept of a personal carbon footprint as a political tool to counter the required policy changes and shift blame and responsibility to individual persons.
In Mobilitätswende we explain the difference between a true mobility transition and an insufficient propulsion transition.
In Ausgeglichene Energiewende we explain how the four main pillars of a successful energy transition in Germany – solar power, wind power, a capable power grid and energy storages – play together and describe two grave mistakes of Bavarian energy policy.
In Quellen – Woher beziehen wir unsere Informationen? we list some of our main sources for information, including some studies and a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which declared that a weak law on climate protection by the German government violates the fundamental rights of younger generations. The IPCC reports are of paramount importance to us. So we dedicate a separate English subpage to them.
In (Klima-)Aktivismus we explain the purpose and role of activism in society.
In Die Funktionen des Klimacamps we explain the core functions of our climate camp in local climate activism and politics.

Moreover, our diaries for 2020, 2021, 2022 and the current year contain descriptions of past events and tell large parts of the history of the camp.