Sippel, Maike (2010): Cities in Germany and their climate commitments: More hype than substance?
This is the latest version of this item.
Download (120kB) | Preview
While nation states debate climate policy at an international scale, on a local level, cities across the globe have committed to emission targets and mitigation activities. This study analyses the actual performance of municipal climate action against their targets. Official information material from large cities in Germany was collected and complemented with questionnaires from officials in 40 municipalities. While 77% of cities have adopted emission targets in a voluntary act, and 80% of these cities are engaged in at least basic emission reporting, only a quarter of them are on course to reach their targets. All of these ‘successful’ cities are situated in Eastern Germany – and their emission reductions can mainly be explained by the industrial decline in the 1990s after the German Reunification. Not a single city in Western Germany is on course to reach its reduction commitment. Cities average mitigation performance is slightly worse than the German average, and the effect of city networks on cities is not very clear. It can be concluded that cities are currently not living up to their ambitions. The practice of urban emission reporting does in many cases not allow for proper quality management of greenhouse gas policies. For a more meaningful contribution to the battle against climate change, cities could follow a double strategy: Firstly they could report emissions regularly and adopt realistic and city-specific targets and action plans based on their emission patterns. Secondly, they could complement their targets with a visionary approach: This would include pilot projects that demonstrate how low carbon cities could look like, as well as a more ambitious target which they would be able to reach – provided that optimal framework conditions for local mitigation activities would be put in place by other policy levels.
|Item Type:||MPRA Paper|
|Original Title:||Cities in Germany and their climate commitments: More hype than substance?|
|Keywords:||Cities; climate policy; mitigation; emission inventories; emission reporting; targets|
|Subjects:||Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q38 - Government Policy
H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations > H77 - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism; Secession
Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q28 - Government Policy
D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D78 - Positive Analysis of Policy-Making and Implementation
R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R5 - Regional Government Analysis > R59 - Other
|Depositing User:||Maike Sippel|
|Date Deposited:||04. Jun 2010 09:14|
|Last Modified:||12. Feb 2013 21:22|
Bader, Nikolas, Bleischwitz, Raimund, 2009. Measuring Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Challenge of Comparability. SAPIENS, 2/3
BMU – Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, 2010. Klimaschutzkonzepte und „Klimaschutzmanager“. http://www.bmu-klimaschutzinitiative.de/de/projekte_nki?p=1&d=443 (27/05/2010)
Carney, Sebastian, Green, Nick, Wood, Ruth, Read, Roger, 2009. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories for 18 European Regions. EUCO280/50 Project Stage 1: Inventory Formation. The Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Protocol (GRIP). University of Manchester, METREX
Climate Alliance, 2009. Benchmark Kommunaler Klimaschutz. http://www.benchmark-kommunaler-klimaschutz.net/ (31/05/2010)
Climate Alliance, 2006. 2006 Activity Report, 2007 Planning. Frankfurt, Germany
Dodman, David, 2009. Blaming cities for climate change? An analysis of urban greenhouse gas emissions inventories. Environment and Urbanization, 21/1, 185-201
DStGB (Deutscher Städte- und Gemeindebund), 2010. Kommunalfinanzen – Kassenstatistik 2009. http://www.dstgb.de/homepage/artikel/schwerpunkte/gemeindefinanzen/aktuelles/kommunalfinanzen_kassenstatistik_2009_pdf_dokument/kassenstatistik_2009.pdf (31/05/2009)
European Commission, 2008. 20 20 by 2020 – Europe’s climate change opportunity. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Brussels, 23.1.2008
Hertle, Hans, Gugel, Benjamin, Ruben, Miranda, 2009. CO2-Bilanzierungshilfe für Kommunen in Baden-Württemberg – 1. Zwischenbericht. Heidelberg, Germany
ICLEI, 2010. The Five Milestone Process. http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=810 (27/05/2010)
ICLEI, 2009. International Local Government GHG Emissions Analysis Protocol (IEAP), Version 1.0 (October 2009).
ICLEI, City of Copenhagen, 2010. The City Climate Catalogue – The Copenhagen world catalogue of city commitments to combat climate change. http://www.climate-catalogue.org (28/05/2010)
IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA
Kennedy, C.A., Ramaswami, A., Carney, S., and Dhakal, S., 2009. Greenhouse Gas Emission Baselines for Global Cities and Metropolitan Regions. Paper presented at the World Bank Urban Research Symposium on Climate Change, June 28-30, in Marseille, France
Kennedy, Christopher, Steinberger, Julia, Gasson, Barrie, Hansen, Yvonne, Hillman, Timothy, Havranek, Miroslav, Pataki, Diane, Phdungsilp, Aumnad, Ramaswami, Anu,Villalba Mendez, Gara, 2009. Methodology for inventorying greenhouse gas emissions from global cities. Energy Policy, Article in Press
Kern, Kristine, Niederhafner, Stefan, Rechlin, Sandra, Wagner, Jost, 2005. Kommunaler Klimaschutz in Deutschland – Handlungsoptionen, Entwicklung und Perspektiven. WZB Discussion Paper SP IV 2005-101
Michaelowa, Axel, 2003. Germany – a pioneer on earthen feet? Climate Policy, Volume 3, Number 1, 31-43
Satterthwaite, David, 2008. Cities’ contribution to global warming: notes on the allocation of greenhouse gas emissions. In: Environment and Urbanization, 20, 539-549
Schleich, J., Eichhammer, W., Böde, U., Gagelmann, F., Jochem, E., Schlomann, B., Ziesing, H.-J., 2001. Greenhouse gas reductions in Germany – lucky strike of hard work. Climate Policy 1, 363-380
Sippel, Maike, Jenssen, Till, 2010. What explains cities’ climate policy-making? A review of drivers and barriers. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, forthcoming
Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, 2010. Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie – Erläuterungen: Definitionen. http://www.statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de/UmweltVerkehr/Erlaeuterungen.asp.luft.asp#ldef (25/05/2010)
Umweltbundesamt, 2009. National Inventory Report for the German Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990 – 2007. Dessau, Germany UNFCCC, 1992. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
UNFCCC, 1998. Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Wuppertal Institute, 2009. Auf dem Weg zu einem “CO2-freien Stuttgart 2050”. Kurzstudie. Wuppertal, 07/2009
Available Versions of this Item
- Cities in Germany and their climate commitments: More hype than substance? (deposited 04. Jun 2010 09:14) [Currently Displayed]