With this project the Wuppertal Institute aims to develop a cromphensive action program for climate protection in the district "Rems-Murr-Kreis" in Baden-Württemberg. The "Rems-Murr-Kreis" strives to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 40 percent compared to 1990 until 2020 and at least 50 percent of the per capita emissions compared to 1990 until 2030. The resulting action program shall help the district to achieve these objectives. With close to 420,000 inhabitants the "Rems-Murr-Kreis" encompasses urban areas close to the state capital Stuttgart as well as rural areas.

Before specific recommendations for local climate protection policies can be compiled, data on local energy use and hereby caused carbon dioxide emissions have to be collected and analysed. For further examination the data will be differentiated focussing the following sectors:

• Private Households
• Municipal and regional administration
• Manufacturing
• Service Sector
• Transportation

The next step is to analyse potentials for an expanded use of renewable energies and increased energy efficiency including the use of renewables for power generation (e.g. photovoltaic), for heating (e.g. solarthermal) as well as combined heat and power. Existent energy efficiency potentials are examined using selected sector specific indicators. The potential analysis will also include ecomomic aspects like the cost-benefit ratio of single measures and their impact on the regional added value. Based on the regional CO2 balance and the assessed potentials for renewables and energy efficiency, the Wuppertal Institute will model three different scenarios for the development of local energy use and CO2 emissions up to the year 2020. Proposed measures will be presented and discussed with local actors in five different workshops considering certain economic issues, too, like a cost-benefit analyses for and their effects on the local economy.