A model for the future
There are many solutions – and many areas where action is needed. That is the nature of climate change. Here, the local authorities can start out on the journey, learn from other cities and municipalities, and set priorities – and above all, build on strategies that have already been successful elsewhere and have particularly high impact potential. What are these strategies? The Oeko-Institut is working on various projects that aim to answer that question.
By implementing 38 measures, the German municipalities can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 101 million tonnes of CO2e, according to a new study entitled “Municipal potential for influencing greenhouse gas mitigation: how municipal measures can contribute to national climate action” on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The joint project by the Oeko-Institut, the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu), the Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development (ILS) and SCS Hohmeyer GmbH identifies the impact potential of a range of instruments in various areas of influence. For example, expansion of the cycling infrastructure and an obligation to connect to and use decarbonised district heating in existing buildings would lead to annual emission reductions of 5 million and 8 million tonnes CO2e respectively and would thus have a major impact on the GHG balance.
But which enabling conditions must be in place for the measures to be actioned? The researchers make various recommendations in their study. “Here, it is important to define obligatory mitigation tasks and ensure that the local authorities have adequate financial resources available,” says Senior Researcher Tanja Kenkmann. “These resources are needed to pay the relevant staff. Climate action managers have a key role to play: they plan and facilitate the actions to be taken and thus enable existing mitigation potential to be leveraged.” Jonathan Schreiber, a researcher in the Resources and Transport Division, emphasises the importance of networking and a more integrated approach. “This allows various thematic areas to be addressed – expanding local public transport, promoting electric vehicles and devising ways to avoid unnecessary travel – rather than focusing on individual aspects.”
From the research team’s perspective, it is also sensible to integrate municipal enterprises into the climate strategy, embed climate action more firmly in federal and regional-state law, and introduce mandatory climate reporting, among other things. “But the local authorities can’t take on all these tasks on their own,” says Tanja Kenkmann. “We need broad-scale support structures and adequate financing. And that includes developing and expanding funding programmes.” Guidelines produced within the project framework provide practical support for local authorities’ climate action efforts: “They include a seven-point strategic plan setting out the key steps.”
Municipal heat planning
The Oeko-Institut investigated one of the core measures for more climate action – municipal heat planning – in the project “The heat transition: The energy turnaround in the heat sector”. “Heat planning offers multiple benefits. It is intended to demonstrate to municipalities how to transition to a climate-neutral heat supply, coordinate the necessary actions and stakeholders, and create stability for forward planning – for property owners, for example,” says Tanja Kenkmann. “It also increases efficiency by avoiding parallel structures.”
The aim of the project – conducted on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Federal Energy Efficiency Center (BfEE), which is part of the BAFA – is to support the enshrinement in law of municipal heat planning, including minimum criteria and a single methodology. There’s a snag, however: “In our federal system, the national government does not have the legal means to impose these obligations on local authorities across the board. Only the regional states (Länder) can do that.” As data availability is vital for the production of a heat plan, a further task, according to the project team, is to define precisely which data may be collected and used, and how. “Some of this is sensitive personal data relating to energy consumption, for example. So proportionality is important and data privacy must be guaranteed.”
The project team is calling for mandatory nationwide heat planning to be phased in over time. “There are around 700 local authorities with more than 20,000 residents; they are home to around 60% of the population. As planning consultancies also have limited resources, the first step is to introduce an obligation for larger local authorities. It should then be rolled out stepwise in smaller local authorities as well.” With regard to the data situation, the study reveals that the Authoritative Real Estate Cadastre Information System (ALKIS) run by the Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany (AdV) is a particularly suitable tool. “This can be supplemented by municipal data on the year of construction or number of floors in a building, for example, and by other data from local stakeholders. However, comprehensive information on heat demand and heat consumption in buildings is not yet available. Data from energy suppliers and the digital records kept by heating maintenance and flue cleaning companies can help to fill the gap here.” Local energy utilities also hold data on the supply infrastructure. “Of course, there are many other data sources, so it would be useful to set up a nationwide register that also includes information on renewables’ heat generation potential and the scope for waste heat recovery.”
A question of finance
Numerous federal funding programmes already provide support for climate action, including at the local level. “Examples are the environmental bonus for electric vehicles and the regionalisation funds, which have now been increased and aim to make local transport a more attractive option,” Jonathan Schreiber explains. However, to ensure that adequate financial resources are available for municipal climate action, a basic level of funding is required over the long term, as Tanja Kenkmann emphasises. “Without it, climate action will only ever be project-based, making it impossible for local authorities to embed it as a strategic objective. It would also be put on the backburner when funds are scarce. The loss of the revenue that the local authorities currently receive via the municipal utilities is another important issue.” The future direction taken by the gas networks is likely to be significant for city and municipal budgets. “The local authorities receive concession fees from the gas suppliers for the use of the gas mains, and this is a substantial income stream. If this falls away, it will affect local authority funding. From my perspective, there is an urgent need to calculate precisely what effect this will have.”
Trialling sustainability
So how can municipal climate action be successful? The Oeko-Institut has explored this question in three neighbourhoods in Darmstadt as part of the Transformative Strategies for Integrated Neighbourhood Development (TRASIQ) project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The second phase of the project (TRASIQ 2) focused on bicycle parking spaces, a sustainable heat supply and efficient use of living space, among other things. “A key element of the project was to trial planning forums which aimed to increase local residents’ involvement in urban planning,” Jonathan Schreiber
explains. As he sees it, this model of participation achieved an important objective: facilitating dialogue among local residents and promoting acceptance of measures that may be unpopular in some quarters. “If people have the chance to make their voices heard and are taken seriously, more viable solutions can emerge.”
During Phase I of the project, conducted in partnership with Darmstadt – City of Science, the Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development (ILS) and the team ewen agency, the experts developed a tool that can be used as a planning aid for new-build neighbourhoods, based on the Ludwigshöhviertel in Darmstadt. In TRASIQ 2, the tool was further developed for existing neighbourhoods. “In this way, it is possible to identify and visualise how specific measures influence energy consumption and emissions. Variables can include refurbishment rates and heat supply technologies,” Tanja Kenkmann explains. “This can assist the local authority’s efforts to communicate its climate strategy.”
A positive image
Municipal climate action is certainly not a simple matter. And it is often bound up with social conflicts. “While cyclists are probably happy to have a pop-up cycle route, car drivers may be annoyed at losing one of their traffic lanes,” says Jonathan Schreiber. So it’s important, in his view, to consistently highlight the positive aspects of climate action. “As well as persuading people and raising awareness, it is essential to continue working intensively on solutions that consider a range of stakeholder interests,” his colleague Tanja Kenkmann emphasises. “However, let’s not forget about improving and expanding sustainable offers such as local public transport.”
Effective and successful concepts from other cities and municipalities can also convey a positive image and serve as models. “I am thinking of Pittsburgh, for example, where public buses are equipped with bike racks, or the superblocks in Barcelona – these are integrated residential areas where through-traffic is diverted to nearby arterial routes. It’s a concept which is now gaining ground in Berlin as well.” These are just two valuable solutions among many.
--
Graduate geographer Tanja Kenkmann is based in the Energy and Climate Division, where she works on policy instruments to progress municipal climate action, increase efficient use of living space and improve the energy efficiency of the building stock, among other things. Jonathan Schreiber is employed in the Resources and Transport Division, where his research areas include sustainable mobility in the rural and urban space.
