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WISO-Tip: Car sharing - for whom it is worthwhile

Published 29 November 2016

For one in three Germans, the car is still a status symbol. But due to running costs and the scarcity of parking spaces, more and more city dwellers are giving up their own car. Is it worth relying completely on car sharing?

Source: WISO tip: Car sharing - ZDFmediathek

Keywords: Construction and operating costs, CarSharing, DE-News, Mobility

Published 1 June 2016

City of Bonn: New regional network office strengthens sustainability centre Bonn

Another piece of good news for Bonn: The Federal Government will set up one of four regional "Sustainability Strategies Network Offices" in the federal city. This was announced by Chancellor Merkel and the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) on Tuesday, 31 May, at the RNE annual conference in Berlin.

From September, the new "Networking Centre for Sustainability Strategies West" (RENN West) will bring together stakeholders from civil society, local authorities and business. RENN West will be responsible for the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. The aim is to better anchor innovative future concepts for sustainable business and living. These could include, for example, low-emission mobility, more conscious consumption or better coexistence between different generations in a neighbourhood.

RENN West will be organised by the NRW State Agenda 21 Working Group (LAG 21). Its concept won out over five other applicants in a competition. Funding for the regional network centres comes from the Federal Chancellery, which coordinates the national sustainability strategy.

NRW Environment Minister Remmel, who coordinates NRW's sustainability strategy, congratulated the new network office: "I am pleased that this will further strengthen Bonn in its role as Germany's No. 1 sustainability centre. The cooperation with the international and national sustainability institutions already based in Bonn will certainly be very fruitful for RENN West."

NRW Minister Franz-Josef Lersch-Mense, who is responsible for One World policy in the state government, also welcomed the establishment of RENN West in Bonn: "In Bonn, very concrete work is being done on the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, such as combating climate change. The establishment of the new network office therefore fits perfectly into the international environment."

Bonn's Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan was pleased about the good news: "The establishment of the regional network office of the German Council for Sustainable Development in Bonn fits perfectly with the profile of our city. The networking of municipalities, business and civil society to promote sustainable development is also an important concern for us as a city."

Sustainability Centre Bonn

As a German city of the United Nations, Bonn is currently home to 18 UN agencies. The largest UN institution in Bonn is the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The most recent addition in spring 2016 was the United Nations Staff College (UNSSC) branch dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And only recently, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN cleared the way for the establishment of the UN SDG Action Campaign office by signing a corresponding memorandum of understanding.

Under the heading "UN in Bonn - Shaping Sustainability", the Bonn UN agencies support the targeted efforts of governments for a sustainable future in the areas of climate change, land degradation, biodiversity and ecosystem services, species conservation, global volunteerism, health, human security, disaster risk reduction, tourism as well as education.

In addition to federal authorities and development cooperation institutions, Bonn is also home to scientific institutions, companies and around 150 international and internationally active non-governmental organisations. They all make the international location Bonn a place from which sustainability is shaped.

Source: Press release City of Bonn, 31.05.2016

Keywords:
Bonn, News Blog NRW, SDG 2030, Environmental policy

Published 20 September 2022

Climate adaptation check for draft resolutions of the municipalities

The "Climate Adaptation Check" is a new orientation aid for NRW municipalities. The federal state passed the first climate adaptation law in Germany in 2021. The check supports NRW municipalities in implementing the new consideration requirement.

Berlin/Cologne. The consequences of climate change have long been felt in German municipalities: more frequent heavy rainfall events, flooding, storms as well as heat waves and prolonged drought. Cities, municipalities and districts must adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change as quickly as possible and become more resilient. In July 2021, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia passed the first climate adaptation law in Germany. According to this law, municipalities in NRW are obliged, for example, to take the impacts of climate change into account in their planning and decisions. In order to support municipalities in the implementation, the "Kommunalberatung Klimafolgenanpassung NRW" (Municipal Advice on Climate Change Adaptation NRW), established at Difu, was commissioned by the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Environment to publish an orientation guide. The new "Climate Adaptation Check for Municipalities in NRW" supports municipalities in the implementation of the consideration requirement according to § 6 of the Climate Adaptation Act.

The guidance outlines the essential premises - responsibility, timeliness, comprehensibility - which must be adhered to, makes suggestions for the procedure and gives advice on implementation. As the core of the procedure, a climate adaptation check of draft resolutions - or ideally already for preliminary planning - is recommended, which is to be discussed and adapted locally in each case and, if necessary, combined in a suitable manner with other test procedures (such as sustainability or climate protection). The working aid is also intended to support climate resilient reconstruction in the areas damaged by the heavy rain and flood events of July 2021.

The development has been based on the experiences and assessments of municipalities in NRW and other federal states. It should and can therefore also be a helpful tool for other municipalities in Germany.

The online publication is available free of charge as a flipbook as well as an accessible version.

Background

The North Rhine-Westphalia Climate Adaptation Act (KlAnG) states in § 6 Consideration requirement:

(1) In their planning and decision-making, the public bodies shall take into account the purpose of this Act and the objectives set for its fulfilment in an interdisciplinary and integrated manner.

(2) Pursuant to section 13(3), first sentence, of the Federal Climate Protection Act of 12 December 2019 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2513), when applying economic efficiency criteria in comparative considerations, the cost and

savings over the respective entire useful life of the investment or procurement. In accordance with sentence 2, the expected costs of the negative consequences of climate change shall also be taken into account in an appropriate manner.

Short info: German Institute of Urban Affairs
As the largest urban research institute in the German-speaking world, the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu) is the research, training and information institution for cities, municipal associations and planning communities. Whether urban and regional development, municipal economy, urban planning, social issues, environment, transport, culture, law, administrative issues or municipal finance: Founded in 1973, the independent Berlin-based institute - with a further location in Cologne - deals with an extensive range of topics and, on a scientific level, deals in a practical way with all the tasks that municipalities have to deal with today and in the future. The Verein für Kommunalwissenschaften e.V. is the sole shareholder of the research institute, which is run as a non-profit limited company.

Source: DIFU-PM of 20.9.2022

Keywords:
Climate protection, Communities, News Blog NRW, Tools