Klimaschutz und Klimaanpassung: Neue große Herausforderungen für Kommunen

Overview of the action framework of the municipalities

Municipalities must consider climate protection and adaptation to climate change as an overarching objective when fulfilling their tasks. Municipalities have a role model function in fulfilling these objectives and should therefore deal intensively with implementation in a timely manner.

In order to be able to meet the challenges of climate protection and climate adaptation, cities and municipalities must get themselves ready to complete the transformation process towards a resilient future. The challenges here are diverse, as is the "toolbox" available to municipalities. The necessary investments and projects must also be brought into line with the currently sharply rising energy prices, supply and material bottlenecks, and the ongoing strained municipal personnel and budget situation.

The following are particularly relevant as new challenges for municipalities: implementation of the two percent target for wind energy in local land use planning, options for urban development planning (e.g. “solar energy optimization” of building layouts in new development plans; designation of areas for combined heat and power generation), more consistent implementation of the requirements for separate waste collection (organic waste, bulky waste) via the public waste disposal authority and compliance with the requirements for “green procurement” (LKrWG; Section 45 KrWG). Other issues to be mentioned here include charging stations and the corresponding infrastructure for e-mobility, traffic bans and restrictions (particular attention should also be paid to the amendment process of a significantly tightened EU air quality directive that has already begun), flood protection, greening of roofs, among other things, the planning law designations on these topics, the use of street lamps as charging devices, urban development planning for new residential areas, renovation of existing residential areas and “green commercial areas”.

It is therefore important for municipalities to determine promptly which measures for climate protection and climate adaptation must be implemented as part of a list of priorities, which legal instruments can be used effectively for implementation and which funding pots can be used to realize the necessary projects. Here it is particularly important to know the existing planning law instruments in detail and to make sensible use of the scope available in planning law. Municipal development planning in particular plays a central role here.

In addition to the aforementioned fields of action, municipalities should also use the transformation process to focus on the implementation of existing environmental law obligations. These include, for example, waste law regulations, which have become significantly more important in the context of the transformation process that has already begun towards a sustainable circular economy model and are increasingly coming into the focus of the public and environmental organizations. This is because municipalities also have a role model function here. However, this seems quite questionable if, for example, existing waste regulations do not reflect the current legal framework. Municipalities are therefore required to live up to their role model function and implement the necessary legal adjustments promptly.

Overall, municipalities are well advised to address the challenges of climate protection and climate adaptation as soon as possible in order to initiate the necessary adaptation processes at an early stage, for example in municipal development planning. The necessary transformation processes should be examined holistically and, in addition to legal issues, other interfaces, for example those relating to business and tax implications, should also be mapped out.

Municipalities are called upon to address the new challenges at an early stage. With the support of EY, the necessary implementation measures can be identified, evaluated and possible solutions developed in one step.

Authors: Attorney Dr. Simon Meyer, Attorney Dr. René Schmelting