Heidelberg is discussing a development which will allow it to retain its character while remaining a socially responsible town in the future, take care of the environment and be economically efficient. In spring 1997, the Town Council passed the "Heidelberg 2010 urban development plan", which defines the main themes of town policy in the form of a Local Agenda.

Heidelberg has also been selected as a model-town by the "Towns of the Future " research programme run by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Construction and Housing, which tests future strategies for sustainable urban development as part of an experimental housing construction and urban development project.

When drawing up its energy control and climate protection programme in 1992, Heidelberg decided to concentrate on the following:

Once the analysis of consumption and potential saving was complete, the Town gradually drew up more detailed action catalogues for the energy and transport sectors. These actions have been gradually implemented according to priority.

The aspects used as a basis for weighting the various options were as follows:

According to a study by the Climate Alliance, Heidelberg is certainly implementing many more actions for climate protection than other towns, but the report is still somewhat disappointing. This shows that there is still a long way to go before the joint objective stipulating a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2005 (reference year: 1987) can be met.

Taking all sectors into consideration, emissions have, in fact, increased by 6% compared with 1987. This increase has been particularly steep in the trade and industry sector (24% increase), while the increase in domestic emissions is barely +1% compared with 1987. The increase in electricity consumption in all sectors is particularly noticeable. On the other hand, CO2 emissions from communal buildings have fallen: the efficiency of energy management in this sector is, indeed, reflected in a reduction of emissions by more than 30% since 1993.

In spite of this rather disappointing result, Heidelberg continues to play the role of precursor in climate protection in Germany. Its energy and transport policy is marked by the large number of measures implemented. After a long and difficult initial phase, this policy has now moved into a dynamic phase, which proves that it is widely supported by everyone involved, both in industry and public enterprise, with the transformation of the Stadtwerke Heidelberg companies and their development from energy distribution into a real energy service supplier. In the meantime, implementation of these measures has also been extended to neighbouring towns.

Stadt Heidelberg, Umweltamt
Dr. Eckart Würzner, tel. +49 6221 58 20 60

//1992

case

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Environmental sustainability

Energy efficiency, Renewable energy supplies