NKI: Instruments for municipal climate action work (IkKa) - Evaluating and planning municipal measures in climate action

© annasunny - stock.adobe.com

The aim of the project ‘IkKa: Instruments for municipal climate action work’ was to support municipalities in answering the following questions:

• How can climate action measures be evaluated?
• Which climate action strategies and instruments should be first implemented in municipalities with limited resources, and what effort is needed to make the municipal contribution to nationwide greenhouse gas (GHG) neutrality?
• What knowledge and support do municipalities need to start the process of greenhouse gas neutral administration?

With the support of 30 model municipalities, the following products were developed in the project and tested for practicality:

Methodological basis for the evaluation of measures

In the future, measures should be evaluated in a consistent, objective and transparent manner. To this end, ifeu analysed the central methodological issues in the evaluation of measures and developed proposals for the evaluation.

For direct measures, a methodology with a concrete calculation of GHG reductions was developed. Direct measures are implementations that directly lead to GHG reductions, such as renovating a building or cycling instead of driving.

Assessment options have also been developed for indirect measures. These motivate and support local stakeholders in implementing climate action measures (e. g. through advisory services). With the indirect measures, municipalities have a very powerful lever for achieving local GHG reductions. Municipalities can use the IkKa methodology to assess indirect measures as follows:

1. Evaluation by prioritisation of indirect measures: When developing climate action concepts, the methodology can be used to prioritise strategies, instruments and measures in a specific and objective way. The evaluation is based not only on the possibilities for municipal influence but also on the specific GHG reduction possibilities in various climate action strategies. Prioritisation enables municipalities to take action efficiently and effectively with the (limited) resources available for climate action.
2. Evaluation of the utilisation of municipal opportunities: Municipalities do not operate alone in a multi-level system consisting of federal states, the federal government and the EU. This evaluation enables municipalities to check whether they are utilising their full potential for action with their (limited) opportunities for action. This leads to a more differentiated and concrete evaluation of municipal climate action work.

The following documents can be downloaded on the right side under ‘Info’ (all documents are in German):

• "IkKa – Empfehlungen zur Bewertung von Maßnahmen im kommunalen Klimaschutz (Langversion)" mit Darstellung des Vorgehens und resultierender Ergebnisse der Bewertungssystematik (coming soon)
• "IkKa – Empfehlungen zur Bewertung von Maßnahmen im kommunalen Klimaschutz (Kurzversion)" mit den zentralen Ergebnissen der Bewertungssystematik
• „IkKa – Technischer Annex“ mit Hintergrundinformationen zur Bewertung direkter und indirekter Maßnahmen (coming soon)
• „IkKa – Katalog für indirekte Maßnahmen und Instrumente im kommunalen Klimaschutz“ gibt eine Übersicht über verschiedene Instrumente und Maßnahmen 

Software for measure evaluation

The methodological proposals for evaluating measures described above have been clearly laid out in an online tool for municipal users. The Maßnahmen-Planer (www.massnahmen-planer.de) was developed for this purpose. The software can be used to prioritise the reduction of GHG emissions from direct and indirect measures based on municipal options, as well as to determine the extent to which municipal options are being exploited. The Maßnahmen-Planer will continue to be operated by the Climate Alliance after the end of the project.

The tool can support climate action management in day-to-day work. It allows the quick comparison of GHG reductions of various (municipal) measures and their alternatives. This can be helpful, for example, for climate checks or climate impact assessments of municipal resolutions. When developing or refining climate action concepts, target-oriented fields of action can be identified by prioritising them for your own municipality and by selecting the most relevant measures for the respective municipality from a pool of 300 measures. The measures can be displayed centrally online in measure sheets and, if necessary, sorted and output (digitised climate action concept).

To check the extent to which the municipality is exhausting its options for action, the Maßnahmen-Planer can be used to evaluate the (planned) measures of the municipality. As a result, the municipality can see in which areas it may need to be even more active.

The stage backpack: companion on the way to a greenhouse gas neutral administration

Numerous local governments have set themselves the goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral in their direct sphere of influence. The path to get there is challenging and can be divided into nine clearly defined stages. For local governments, there are now practical tools for each stage. These can be used for orientation, independent processing or process support in order to successfully master the stages. The backpack was developed as part of the project ‘Instruments for municipal climate action work’ together with model municipalities and funded by the National Climate Initiative. Get to know the backpack here and set off on your journey!