Climate Pioneer City Graz (KPS_Graz)

In November 2020, the City of Graz launched a comprehensive Climate Change Mitigation Plan process. On the basis of a CO2 opening balance sheet (Baseline 2018), the aims to initiate and promote a strategically guided implementation of climate change mitigation measures parallel to existing concepts of climate change adaptation in all areas of life in Graz began.

With the project "Climate Pioneer City Graz" as part of the "Pioneer City - Partnership for Climate Neutral Cities 2030", together with the Ministry of Climate Protection with a total of seven additional specialists, important strategic climate protection competencies are being built up and anchored in the Graz municipal administration, which play an essential role in the rapid implementation of the Climate Change Mitigation Plan Graz - both at the city level and at the district level.

In addition, the further development and testing of innovative climate protection governance processes in the municipal administration should lead to the earliest possible achievement of the defined climate change mitigation goals. In this way, the new employees are to go through a training process that is as efficient as possible and the continuous interdisciplinary cooperation in the entire area of climate change mitigation in the local administration is to be optimized.

In addition, four Graz pilot districts were selected in the proposed pioneer city cooperation, of which, after an evaluation phase, the most suitable one is to be accompanied and supported by the urban team of experts - developing innovative, integrated, participatory planning processes - on its way towards climate neutrality by 2030.

Initially, districts with different urban structural framework conditions, such as new and existing quarters, are examined. In a multi-level learning environment, concrete solution modules are to be developed in the cooperation of internal and external stakeholders, which should contribute significantly to the transferability and scaling of the process innovations and lessons learned developed in the project to other cities at state, federal and EU level.
Within the framework of this public-public cooperation with the BMK, uniform greenhouse gas balancing and monitoring standards for Austria is also to be developed and established together with the other Austrian pioneer cities, with which the quantification of locally achieved CO2 reductions can be uniformly evaluated and compared in the future.

Initial Situation / Motivation

• Ongoing Climate Change Mitigation Plan Graz process since 11/2020, development of action plans since 03/2021, implementation ongoing
• Strategic partnership between the City of Graz and the Federal Government (BMK) in the field of climate change mitigation on local level
• Additional experts in the municipal climate change mitigation sector urgently needed for the implementation phase of the Graz Climate Change Mitigation Plan

Contents and Objectives

• Further development and testing of innovative climate change mitigation governance processes in the municipal administration
• Accompaniment and support by the City of Graz for at least one urban district on its way towards climate neutrality by 2030
• Development and testing of a learning environment within the City of Graz in the field of climate change mitigation
• Implementation of specific know-how transfer and replication formats in coordination with BMK and the other Austrian climate pioneer cities

Procedere / Implementation

• Establishment of an internal project structure in coordination with existing structures in the Graz Climate Change Mitigation Plan
• Recruiting and onboarding of climate change mitigation experts financed by the project
• Early involvement of private/ public property developers and other external stakeholder groups
• Proactive use of the ÖÖK support process to promote the exchange of content with BMK and the other Austrian climate pioneer cities

Expected results

• Accelerating the implementation of the Climate Change Mitigation Plan Graz (climate-neutral administration by 2030, climate neutrality at the city level by 2040 at the latest)
• Municipal accompaniment and support of private / public property developers on their way towards climate neutrality at district level by 2030
• Development and testing of innovative formats and tools for effective and efficiency-enhancing climate change mitigation governance in municipal administration
• Passing on process innovations and lessons learned to other cities
• Incorporating impulses from other cities into internal administrative processes