NRW launches new sustainability strategy

Published 1 October 2020

North Rhine-Westphalia is the world's largest public issuer of sustainability bonds / Minister President Laschet: North Rhine-Westphalia is committed to a future in which ecology and economy are responsibly compatible

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia has adopted an updated sustainability strategy that has been supplemented with important topics for the future. With a wide range of goals and measures, the strategy shows the way to sustainable living and economic activity in the most populous federal state. The strategy was developed in cooperation with all ministries of the state government under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment. The state government will appoint a sustainability advisory board to accompany the implementation, evaluation and further development of the sustainability strategy.

Minister President Armin Laschet: "With the newly presented sustainability strategy based on the 17 UN goals, North Rhine-Westphalia is making concrete contributions to the integrity of creation and to sustainable economic activity. North Rhine-Westphalia is a pioneering state: we show how sustainability can succeed here in a highly developed and densely populated industrial state in the heart of Europe. In this way, we can set an example worldwide. North Rhine-Westphalia is committed to a future in which ecology and economy are responsibly compatible."

"By positioning ourselves sustainably as a society and economy, we are shaping the future and future markets. Each and every individual can make a contribution to this in this decade of sustainability," says Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser: "At the same time, the new strategy is also a central guard rail for the way out of the corona pandemic. This must be linked to tangible steps towards sustainability so that the economy can not only recover, but North Rhine-Westphalia can emerge from the crisis more climate-friendly, resource-efficient and sustainable."

The core of the new sustainability strategy is a set of 67 concrete goals and indicators. These are closely interlinked with the goals at federal level and are based on the global sustainability goals adopted by the United Nations on 25 September 2015 with the worldwide Agenda 2030. Ecology, economy and social coexistence are given equal consideration.

World's largest public issuer of sustainability bonds

Among other things, North Rhine-Westphalia plays a pioneering role in the issuance of sustainability bonds. In recent years, North Rhine-Westphalia has placed six sustainability bonds with a total volume of almost eleven billion euros on the financial markets. This makes North Rhine-Westphalia the largest public issuer of sustainability bonds worldwide and the first and so far only German state to issue bonds in this area. The multiple awards with industry prizes confirm the success of the state's sustainability bonds.

"The sustainability principle is particularly important to us - economically and politically," affirms Lutz Lienenkämper, Minister of Finance. "We achieve high demand on the market and at the same time enable important investments for the future of our country."

Wide range of targets and indicators

The spectrum of goals and indicators ranges from an increase in organic farming to 20 percent of agricultural land, to strengthening the environmental economy as an important future segment, to a minimum investment of 3.5 percent of GDP in innovations and solutions for the future. Other indicators describe the expansion of all-day care at primary school age and the increase in raw material productivity by 2030. In addition, the strategy includes important future topics such as digitalisation, the circular economy and electromobility.

Further information on the sustainability bonds

With the sustainability bond, the country is addressing investors who value a financial investment that supports social and ecological concepts. The investors' money flows into sustainable projects of the state from a total of seven project categories. These include, for example, exemption from contributions for the last year of kindergarten and the expansion of cycle paths and broadband infrastructure. The pension fund of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is also managed 100 percent sustainably. The state pursues the goals of security, profitability and sustainability in its investment decisions.

The requirements for sustainable capital investments include both general ESG criteria (Environment, Social, Governance - ESG) and targeted criteria for the exclusion of ethically or ecologically particularly problematic business practices. This is how sustainable management with improved environmental standards succeeds in the industrial and energy state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state invests exclusively in companies that are among the best rated in the areas of ecology, social affairs and corporate governance on the basis of numerous key figures. In particular, international norms and standards for the protection of the environment as well as ethical and social criteria formulated by the UN apply.

Further information

Keywords: News Blog NRW, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published 1 March 2018

New BMUB funding programme brings climate products into series production

Funding guideline comes into force on 1 March 2018

With the so-called Small Series Directive, the Federal Environment Ministry is launching a new funding programme within the framework of the National Climate Initiative. Funding is provided for products and processes for climate protection that are already ready for the market but have not yet made the breakthrough. The directive comes into force on 1 March 2018.

Innovative products and processes often find it difficult to quickly establish themselves on the market and make the leap into regular series production. This is where the Federal Ministry for the Environment wants to help in future with investment grants within the framework of the small series funding guideline.

Five different technologies are the subject of the funding, which were selected within the framework of an ideas competition and its evaluation by a panel of experts. Eligible for funding in the future are

Micro hydropower plants with up to 30 kilowatts of electrical output in technical installations,
energy-efficient equipment for local oxygen production (which can be used, for example, in hospitals, research facilities, chemical processes or sewage treatment plants),
decentralised systems for heat recovery from domestic hot water (for example, shower channels, tubs or pipes with heat exchangers),
Drilling equipment for innovative geothermal storage probes and
electrically assisted cargo bikes and cargo bike trailers with high payloads and transport volumes for bicycle-based cargo transport. The promotion of cargo bikes is part of the Clean Air Emergency Programme.

Companies as well as municipalities and other organisations can benefit from the funding. Private individuals can also apply for funding for heat recovery systems from domestic hot water.

The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) will accept applications for funding under the directive from 1 March 2018. Applications can only be submitted online.

Further information:
www.klimaschutz.de/kleinserien-richtlinie
The leaflet on the new funding guideline for small series as PDF:
www.bafa.de/...kleinserien_klimaschutzprodukte_node.html

Keywords:
Bike-/Velo-City, DE-News, Funding, Climate protection, Mobility, Sustainable management, Resource efficiency, Environmental policy, Urban production, eMobility

Published 29 April 2022

Climate-neutral heating instead of burning natural gas: This is how cities achieve the heat turnaround

► Consistently tap alternative heat sources such as wastewater heat
► Convert public buildings to renewable heat and form district heating networks
Ambitious energy-efficient refurbishment, even in areas protected by the Milieu, so that warm rents remain affordable
BMBF project "Urban Heat Turnaround" by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research, law firm Becker Büttner Held and Berliner Wasserbetriebe presents recommendations

The advancing climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, the associated uncertainties and price increases - there are many reasons to get out of oil and natural gas as quickly as possible when it comes to heating. In order for the heat transition in cities to progress faster and more effectively, energy experts of the project "Urban Heat Transition" recommend a mix of measures: cities should develop a spatial heat planning and tap all sustainable heat potentials such as wastewater heat. In addition, they should expand district heating, create neighbourhood heating networks - especially around public buildings - and support fair energy refurbishments in protected areas. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) developed recommendations for states, cities, municipalities and neighbourhood managers together with the law firm Becker Büttner Held (BBH) and the Berliner Wasserbetriebe as well as representatives of the Berlin Senate and district administration.
Using Berlin as an example, the research project investigated central aspects of a climate-neutral heat supply. So far, the capital still depends on natural gas for two-thirds of its heating, heating oil for 17 per cent and coal for five per cent. "Berlin is facing challenges in the heat transition that other cities are also familiar with: Rising rents fuel fears of expensive renovation projects, the change has not yet reached the neighbourhoods despite funding pots and technologies such as the use of wastewater heat are only slowly being implemented," explains project manager Dr Elisa Dunkelberg from the IÖW. "In two and a half years of practice-oriented research, we have compiled solution strategies that should not be missing from any urban heat planning."

Higher thermal insulation standards also in areas protected by urban development law

The next heating bill will show tenants how expensive it is to depend on fossil fuels. Even if the markets calm down, the CO2 price will rise. That's why energy-efficient renovation that goes beyond the legal minimum standards can also be worthwhile from the tenants' point of view: If landlords use subsidies and allocate the modernisation costs fairly, the warm rent remains stable or can even decrease, as the researchers have calculated.

Especially in areas of social preservation, municipalities should allow more ambitious refurbishments: "In Berlin's 70 or so social preservation areas, ambitious energy refurbishments have rarely been approved so far. The same applies to a change from gas floor heating to renewable energies or district heating," says Charlotta Maiworm from BBH. "In order to keep rents affordable in the long term, these projects should be approved - but only under certain conditions or stipulations, such as that the costs for tenants may not be higher than the measures according to the regulatory minimum standard." The research team summarises in a guideline what municipalities and neighbourhood managers should pay attention to.

Alternative heat sources: Wastewater heat & Co.

In order to use resources efficiently and minimise energy imports, local heat sources must be used extensively. While some cities have great potential in individual areas, such as Munich with geothermal energy and Hamburg with industrial waste heat, other cities such as Berlin must exploit all potential and aim for a broad mix of environmental heat pumps, commercial waste heat, direct electricity use and biomass.

One heat source that is available all year round in all cities and only needs to be "tapped" is wastewater heat: it could be an important building block in the future energy mix and, for example, cover up to five per cent of the heat demand in Berlin in the future. "For their municipal heat planning, cities need information about where and to what extent wastewater heat is available and how it could be used," says Michel Gunkel from Berliner Wasserbetriebe. "In the 'Urban Heat Turnaround' project, we have therefore prepared this data in a geo-based tool - the wastewater heat atlas - which we are currently testing in an internal test phase."

Heat planning and district heating networks

The information from the wastewater heat atlas must be merged with other data, such as heat demand, for heat planning. The goal of heat planning is to find out where climate neutrality can best and most cost-efficiently be achieved with which future heat supply. District heating makes sense where renewable heat and waste heat potentials exceed the demand of individual buildings. "To shoot for local heat sources, public buildings play a central role," Elisa Dunkelberg emphasises. "If a large wastewater heat pump is installed there, for example, it can also supply surrounding houses via a neighbourhood heat network." Whenever public buildings are due for heating changes or renovations, it should therefore be checked whether a district heating system is possible. Sample calculations show that with the planned federal subsidy for efficient heating networks, neighbourhood heating can be offered at competitive prices. The researchers also propose measures to facilitate implementation - such as model contracts and criteria catalogues.

At the conference "Urban heat transition - How cities can supply themselves with climate-neutral heat" at the end of March, more than 300 administrative staff and neighbourhood managers from various cities learned about the current state of research on the urban heat transition. Guides, infographics, publications and materials on the conference: www.urbane-waermewende.de.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More information

Guide: Energy-efficient refurbishment in Berlin's protected neighbourhoods: How tenant and climate protection go together (www.urbane-waermewende.de/publikationen-1)
Research report: Dunkelberg et al. (2022): Public buildings as nuclei for climate-neutral district heating (ibid.)
► Infographics of the project: www.urbane-waermewende.de/publikationen/infografiken

About the project

The Urban Heat Turnaround project was coordinated by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW). The joint partners were Berliner Wasserbetriebe and the commercial law firm Becker Büttner Held (BBH). The Senate Department for the Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Climate Protection, the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the district of Neukölln were involved as municipal partners. The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the funding initiative "Sustainable Transformation of Urban Spaces" of the Social-Ecological Research (SÖF) funding priority.

www.urbane-waermewende.de

Source: IÖW-PM of 26 April 2022

Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Communities, New books and studies, Quarters, Solar thermal, Thermal insulation

Published 23. September 2020

1,000 PV systems on Deutsche Wohnen propertiesDeutsche Wohnen

Offensive for green electricity: Installation of 1,000 new photovoltaic systems and 2,000 charging points in Deutsche Wohnen neighbourhoods

"The building sector is responsible for around one third of all CO₂-emissions in Germany. To achieve a climate-neutral building stock by 2050, the energy refurbishment of existing buildings alone is not enough," explains Michael Zahn, CEO of Deutsche Wohnen SE. "We also need to exploit the technological possibilities for CO₂-Reduction to the fullest and open up the opportunity for our tenants to live sustainably."

Together with GETEC, Deutsche Wohnen will in future jointly develop offers for green tenant electricity and electric mobility for its tenants. As an important contribution to the energy transition in the big city, the companies want to promote decentralised power supply by means of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the neighbourhoods. Around 1,000 PV systems will be installed on the roofs of Deutsche Wohnen's properties - the first 20 will go into operation this year. The electricity generated by these systems will be directly available to the tenants in the buildings as green tenant electricity, without first being fed through the grid. This conserves resources and relieves the strain on electricity grids. Even small solar systems with a peak output of 38 kilowatts_Peak (kW_P) save around 14 tonnes of CO₂ in. In Deutsche Wohnen's portfolios, the savings potential thus amounts to a total of around 14,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

"Deutsche Wohnen has been investing in improving the carbon footprint of its properties for years. The expansion of photovoltaics is the next logical step towards climate-neutral living and working. We will invest around 50 million euros in this over the next ten years," says Michael Zahn.

In the future, the decentrally generated electricity will also be used to charge e-vehicles in the respective residential complexes, among other things. Together with GETEC, Deutsche Wohnen intends to set up more than 2,000 charging points across Germany. Planning for the first joint charging infrastructure projects has already begun. The investment volume amounts to approximately 25 million euros.

"Together with Deutsche Wohnen, we are creating needs-based electric charging infrastructure in neighbourhoods across Germany, sending a clear signal for the mobility turnaround," says Dr Karl Gerhold, managing partner of GETEC Energie Holding GmbH, underlining the aims of the collaboration.

Deutsche Wohnen and GETEC will establish the joint company SYNVIA mobility GmbH for the construction and operation of electric charging stations. The electricity generated in the districts will be marketed by the new joint company SYNVIA energy GmbH.

Source: Deutsche Wohnen PM dated 29 September 2020

Keywords:
Stock, DE-News, Renewable, News Blog Berlin, PV, eMobility