Climate Protection at Local and Regional Level - Climate-friendly Urban and District Development

The event series "NRW Climate Lounge" offers events alongside COP23 on nine weekdays from 5 – 7 p.m.

Before introducing the topic of the day, the Wuppertal Institute will present the daily update on the current official negotiations at COP23.

Afterwards, we’ll explore what a climate-friendly city and neighbourhood development might look like. Numerous municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have already successfully tackled this topic. “InnovationCity" is a flagship project, which implements an integrated development approach to draw together and promote issues such as climate-friendly housing, mobility, work and other areas of activity. It aims to cut CO2 emissions in half in just ten years. The City of Essen, reigning European Green Capital of 2017, is a good example of how climate protection and adapting to climate change can be put in a broader context and how interactions with other environmental topics can be systematically addressed. The different views highlighted in the discussion will be topped off with a good example of climate-friendly development in rural areas. Many regions and municipalities in NRW have committed themselves particularly to expanding renewable energy in an exemplary fashion for many years through participative approaches and high civic engagement. Stakeholders’ motivation for their initiatives, opportunities for city and regional development and their experiences will be presented in detail during the course of this discussion.

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Manfred Fischedick, Vice-President Wuppertal Institute

Speakers include:

• Nicolas Kreibich, Research Group Energy, Transport and Climate Policy, Wuppertal Institute – Update on the ongoing negotiations at COP23
• Burkhard Drescher, Managing Director of Innovation City Management GmbH
• Simone Raskob, Head of the Department of Environment and Construction in Essen
• Kai Lipsius, Climate protection officer, Essen (Germany)
• Wilfried Roos, Mayor of Saerbeck
• Dr. Babette Nieder, Managing Director, Hertener Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH

However the outcome of this year's COP, our scientists will report. Stay tuned: #MakingParisPossible

UN accreditation is not required for the event series. Additional dates for the event series and COP23 can be found at the following links.