Municipal climate action

Buses? Electric! Buildings? Refurbished to the highest standards! Cities and municipalities can make a major contribution to mitigating climate change – by providing advice to local residents and undertaking energy upgrading of their building stock, for example, or by putting municipal enterprises such as transport providers and local utilities on a path towards climate neutrality. Many local authorities are already actively committed to mitigating climate change. But there is still major potential to unlock – reflecting the major challenges facing our cities and municipalities.

“Local authorities have a great deal of scope that they can and should be utilising more effectively,” says Jonathan Schreiber, a researcher at the Oeko-Institut. “They have a very large workforce, they are influential in municipal enterprises, and they have a building stock and, often, their own vehicle fleets.” And many local authorities are already taking action to protect the climate. “There is a high proportion of e-vehicle registrations in some local authorities, while others are working to improve the cycling infrastructure.” It is a similar picture in the energy sector. “There is quite a lot of movement on municipal heat planning and the switch to renewables, for example,” says Tanja Kenkmann, a Senior Researcher in the Energy and Climate Division. But this is certainly not enough, as she makes clear. “Many cities and municipalities have set ambitious climate targets in recent years, but despite all their policies and strategies, many of them are finding it difficult to achieve these goals.”

So why is municipal climate action such a challenge? One reason is that municipalities take many forms. “German cities and municipalities are incredibly diverse. They vary in size, some are urban and some are rural, and the frameworks in which they operate differ according to the legislation in place at the regional-state (Land) level,” says mobility expert Jonathan Schreiber. Take municipal heat planning: “In Baden-Württemberg, the major county towns and unitary authorities are required to produce a heat plan by the end of 2023. It’s a positive step – one which Hamburg and Thuringia have also taken, for example. Ideally, all of Germany’s states should follow suit,” says Tanja Kenkmann.

In the Oeko-Institut researchers’ view, many local authorities are still poorly equipped to implement effective climate strategies. “Climate change mitigation is a cross-sectoral task that involves various departments and agencies,” says Jonathan Schreiber. “The existing administrative structures are not designed to accommodate this, as a rule.” In addition, much-needed skills are often in short supply. “Cycling, for example, has played a subordinate role in transport planning and related training for decades.”

There are many other challenges to overcome as well – notably as regards climate change adaptation and biodiversity. But a lack of staff is another factor causing headaches for local authorities. “The skills shortage is hitting local authorities hard. On top of that, financial constraints often make it impossible to appoint climate action managers, for example, who would coordinate and progress climate change mitigation within the local authority. What we are seeing is that even when funding for climate action is available, it is not being accessed, simply due to a lack of personnel,” say Senior Researcher Tanja Kenkmann. And staff are needed for other climate-related tasks as well. “Refurbishment of buildings is just one example: planning, delivering and overseeing projects of this kind is a very time-consuming process.”

Strengthening local ownership

Legislation in place at the federal level can also have a dampening effect on municipal climate action. “For example, the road traffic regulations hamper ­cities and municipalities from taking their own decisions on where to introduce a 30 km/h speed limit. And yet depending on traffic flows, this would reduce emissions and improve safety for large numbers of road users,” says ­Jonathan Schreiber. “And although the German government’s coalition agreement aims to give local authorities more leeway in relation to road transport, there has been no movement on this issue yet. A reform of the road traffic regulations is therefore urgently required. The local authorities should be given far more scope for action here. They have a better insight into what would be useful and necessary within their sphere of governance.” It seems that many local authorities agree: via the Liveable Cities and Communities initiative, more than 500 of them are currently pushing for more decision-making powers. However, other rules – such as the mandatory provision of parking spaces, set out in the building regulations – also hinder more sustainable mobility in almost all the German states. “This conflicts with the vision of car-free urban centres.”

Barriers exist in the energy sector as well. “For example, a ban on gas- and oil-fired heating could have been introduced long ago. In our view, this is taking far too long,” says Tanja Kenkmann. “And then there is the refurbishment of buildings: here, the state-owned KfW bank funded low standards for too long. Thankfully, that has now changed, but a great deal of potential was squandered here.”

More transparency

A current project outlines another approach to chart progress in municipal climate action: sustainability reporting. As part of the Implementing the 2030 Agenda Locally through Urban Development project on behalf of the German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, the Oeko-Institut and EBP Deutschland GmbH are assisting eight local authorities in Germany and around the world – including Cottbus, Munich, Mannheim, Liverpool City Region and Prefeitura Municipal de Maringá in Brazil – to draw up sustainability reports. “We want to facilitate an international dialogue so that the local authorities can benefit from a diverse range of experience,” Jonathan Schreiber explains. The reports will be based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations. Goal 11 focuses on making cities and human settlements sustainable. Today, around half of the world’s population lives in cities, and this is likely to increase to two-thirds by 2050. “The 2030 Agenda encourages sustainability reporting at the national level, but local authorities are increasingly engaging here as well,” says Jonathan Schreiber.

According to the experts, sustainability reporting offers numerous benefits for local authorities. “Transparency, for example: the local authorities can see where they stand, how much progress they are making and how they can contribute to sustainability targets – and communicate this to local citizens.” They also see this as a highly prestigious form of engagement. “It creates an opportunity to be influential in national and international processes and thus actively respond to challenges at the municipal level.” The process of producing a sustainability report strengthens collaboration within the local authority, says Tanja Kenkmann. “And this is essential for mitigating climate change, which concerns every sector.”

As the first step, the researchers asked the participating cities about the status quo and their goals and challenges. “We found that most local authorities view climate action as a core issue. According to the urban municipalities that are involved in the project, the challenges mainly arise when they have to reconcile a variety of trends and pressures, including demographic change and population growth in some cities, but also a lack of human and financial resources.”

There is no shortage of challenges, in other words. But what about solutions?