The city government of Berlin has announced plans to plant more than 500,000 new trees throughout the German capital by 2040.
On November 4, the city council adopted a new Baumgesetz (Tree Law) with the votes of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as well as all opposition parties except the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The law provides for boosting the number of trees in Berlin from 440,000 currently to 1 million over the net 15 years.
The trees are meant to mitigate the effects of climate change by bringing down temperatures, providing shade and improving air quality.
The new legislation meets the demands of a petition signed by more than 33,000 Berliners who had campaigned for more trees since 2023. It states that – where possible – there should be a tree every 15 metres on each side of all roads as well as on central reserves dividing traffic.
The city estimated on November 3 that the total cost of planting the new trees will be around €3.2 billion.
Berlin is already deep in the red, though, with total debt exceeding €42 billion or more than €18,000 per capita.
The new trees are therefore to be financed using funds transferred to the capital out of the €500 billion special fund set up by the Federal Government in May. The fund itself is financed by an unprecedented issuance of new debt that German media in March called “historically high”.
As part of the political dealings necessary to get the votes for this mammoth debt increase, the government of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed to transfer €100 billion to the 16 German States – of which the City of Berlin is one.
The States are meant to use this money to modernise their crumbling infrastructure, such as repaving roads, renovating schools and hospitals and expanding broadband internet.
Berlin is now planning to use €2 billion of the €5.25 billion it gets out of the infrastructure fund to finance its tree-planting programme.
Critics bemoan that the city should put the money to better use.
Christoph Meyer, leader of the Liberal Berlin Free Democrats Party (FDP), said the law was “a total joke”, telling newspaper Tagesspiegel on November 1: “The federal government is providing billions and instead of using them responsibly, they are being squandered on symbolic politics and ‘green’ pipe-dreams.”
