The city of Cologne has set itself the goal of becoming climate-neutral. In order to achieve this goal, a climate council and six sectoral project groups were set up as advisory expert bodies. The project groups covered the fields of energy, buildings, mobility and logistics, industry, nutrition and consumption. The task of the project groups, which contained of external stakeholders, was to develop the strategies and measures relevant for Cologne to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Overall, the project consisted of the following work steps:
- Update of the energy and GHG balance for Cologne according to the BISKO standard
- Development and application of an accounting framework for controlling and monitoring
- Scenario development
- Technical, methodological and conceptual support for the climate council and the project groups in the development of strategies and measures
- Creation of a catalog of measures
The main focus of the work of the Wuppertal Institute was the scientific support of the project groups Industry and Mobility and Logistics in the development of suitable climate protection measures. The Wuppertal Institute’s researchers supported the project groups in terms of content and methods in identifying and preparing climate protection measures, with the ambitious implementation of which the city of Cologne can achieve climate neutrality. In addition to the development of new measures, a particular focus was on creating framework conditions for the accelerated implementation of measures that are already the subject of political and public discussion in Cologne. All measures were finally brought together in an implementation-oriented catalog of measures.