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Municipal climate action managers: Effectiveness in funding acquisition and GHG mitigation

Panel: 5. Towards sustainable and resilient communities

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Tanja Kenkmann, Öko-Institut, Germany
Benjamin Köhler, Öko-Institut, Germany
Hesse Tilman, Öko-Institut, Germany
Loschke Carmen, Öko-Institut, Germany

Abstract

Germany has approximately 11,000 municipalities which can make a significant contribution towards achieving climate targets. The Local Authorities Funding Guideline (LAG) of the German National Climate Initiative (NCI) has supported municipalities in designing and implementing climate action since 2008.

One of the funding components of the LAG is the funding of a position for climate action management (CAM). Since 2008, more than 800 climate action managers have been funded. The positions are funded for three years and can be renewed for a further two years. Often the positions are made permanent and firmly anchored in the administration after the funding period ends.

The tasks of the climate action managers are very diverse. Their main task is to implement investments in energy efficiency and climate action measures. They often apply for further funding for this purpose or advise and support others in the application process. However, measuring their impact presents a challenge. Determining the impact of a policy instrument such as the funding of a climate action staff position is essential, on the one hand to be able to justify the expenditure of funding, and on the other hand to create a knowledge base for the continuation and further development of the instrument. This study contributes towards such an impact analysis.

The aim of the study is to analyse the effect of the work of the CAMs on the call for funding and to quantify the greenhouse gas reductions achieved through the implementation of funded climate action measures. The analysis was carried out as a comparison group analysis: The acquisition of subsidies in municipalities with climate action managers is compared to that in municipalities without. The associated greenhouse gas reductions are quantified. Data from 11 funding programmes were evaluated.

In addition, in the group of cities with climate action management (CAM), funding calls before the introduction of CAM were compared with funding calls after the introduction of CAM. Both comparisons were made for small and medium-sized municipalities.

The results show that more funded climate action measures are implemented in municipalities with CAM than in municipalities without. The funding volume with CAM is also significantly higher than without, and greenhouse gas reductions are correspondingly higher. With the results presented here, the impact of municipal climate action managers on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in municipalities can be proven. For municipalities with CAM, it can also be shown that more projects are implemented after the establishment of CAM than in the years before the climate action manager was hired.

The survey results can be used to demonstrate the importance of climate action managers for municipal climate action and for the implementation of climate protection measures. The aim should therefore be to increase the number of municipalities with climate action managers.

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