The Environment and Energy Agency Karlsruhe County supports the region to become carbon neutral by 2035

By project POTEnT

Published on 20 July 2022

Germany

Karlsruhe

About this good practice

Originally, the Environment and Energy Agency (UEA) was to advise and support citizens in the 32 municipalities of the Karlsruhe district in saving energy. It was founded out of the realisation that climate protection can only succeed if it is also supported by a majority of the more than 440,000 citizens of the district.

More and more municipalities recognised the know-how of the UEA and asked for advice and support in developing and implementing their local SECAPs. Thus, UEA soon became a partner and advisor for the development of a wide range of climate protection projects, e.g. (small) district heating systems based on renewable energies or municipal climate protection strategies.

In addition, UEA worked on a concept for a climate strategy to lead the entire district to climate neutrality by 2050, called "zeozweifrei 2050". In 2021, this goal becomes much more ambitious and is called "zeozweifrei 2035". Thereby supports the UEA supports the district and its municipalities in the eea process (European Energy Award); five of them have been certified at least once (by 2021), the district has even reached the gold level.
Today, the tasks and roles of the UEA go far beyond the original offer and the agency is a valued partner of the district and its 32 municipalities in all matters of climate and sustainability projects. The UEA is primarily geared towards administration and politics, but also offers a wide range of information for all citizens of the district.

Resources needed

The agency receives basic annual funding of 62,500 euros from its shareholders and can apply for funding from state and federal programmes. Income is also generated through service contracts with the municipalities and the district. The agency needs about 1 million euros to maintain its operations.

Evidence of success

The UEA has contributed to the following outcomes over the last 10 years:
- Climate strategy for the province to become carbon neutral by 2035.
- Support in the planning of more than 30 sustainable heating systems, 15 of which have been implemented.
- Start of climate saving process in the county and in 13 municipalities
- Launch of climate protection workshops in 2 thirds of the municipalities in the district
- a variety of climate protection offers to raise awareness among the population

Potential for learning or transfer

Climate protection can only succeed if politics, administration and the population of the districts and municipalities are involved. The district of Karlsruhe was one of the first in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg to establish climate protection processes and a climate protection strategy that go beyond the national climate goals and those of the UN.

One reason for the success is the UEA's support of the district and local governments and politics in implementing meaningful processes, such as the eea programme, neighbourhood projects or climate protection workshops.

Most of the instruments and measures developed by the UEA are transferable to other districts or municipalities. Today, numerous municipalities ask for support in developing and implementing their local climate programmes. By 2022, the UEA has supported 6 municipalities outside the Karlsruhe district in developing sustainable heating systems, low-energy neighbourhood projects or climate protection workshops.