"The city administration has made great progress in implementing its climate protection activities. At the same time, we need to accelerate the momentum further so that we can achieve our climate neutrality target by 2035. By closely monitoring the projects in the climate plan and tracking key figures over time, we will be able to derive progress on climate protection in the future. This will enable us to make adjustments and target our activities accordingly," explains Mayor Katja Dörner.
The city administration's climate protection work program
The climate plan's work program for the years 2023 to 2025 comprises a total of 66 climate protection activities, known as profiles. These climate protection activities are managed by the city's Climate Neutral Bonn 2035 program office, which is developing a tailor-made monitoring and controlling system for the successful implementation of the climate plan. With the help of this management tool, the city is tracking progress on the path to climate neutrality and will be able to initiate any necessary adjustments in a timely manner.
In 2024, the program office, together with the responsible departments of the administration and the city's own companies, compiled an overview of all projects derived from the fact sheets. The city has identified 221 climate protection projects and summarizes their content and progress in its annual report. Of a total of 221 projects, 21 have already been completed, 20 are in preparation, 72 are in planning and 79 are being implemented (as of February 2025). The climate plan projects range from reforestation to bind CO2, to educational programs on climate protection in schools, to the expansion of the cycle path network and the energy-efficient renovation of buildings.
Indicator system supplements greenhouse gas balances
Climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions for short) must be reduced by more than 90 percent in Bonn if the city is to become climate-neutral by 2035. The climate plan describes how this can be achieved. City-wide GHG balances show the actual course of energy consumption and GHG emissions. Due to the availability of data, the results of GHG balances are generally only available with a delay of around two years. Measurable GHG reductions for the climate plan activities adopted in 2023 will therefore only become visible in a few years' time. The city is therefore compiling indicators for each field of action in the climate plan on the Bonn Climate Compass in addition to the GHG balance sheet. This allows the progress of climate plan implementation to be shown with more up-to-date data. For example, progress in the mobility field of action is measured by the number of e-cars, mobile stations and car-sharing services, among other things.
Bonn Climate Compass presents indicators online
The Bonn Climate Compass is a central information platform for local, climate-relevant indicators. Both the GHG balances and the climate protection indicators can be viewed at www.bonn.de/klimakompass. (opens in a new tab)"Transparency is an important part of the climate plan. That's why the indicators in our climate compass are also available to the public online," emphasizes Mayor Katja Dörner.
The climate compass will be continuously expanded to include indicators from the seven fields of action of the climate plan. This presentation makes progress in climate protection measurable and enables politicians and the administration to make targeted adjustments. The development of the climate compass is based on ideas from the "Bonn4Future - We for the climate" participatory process.
VHS panel discussion on the climate plan
On Friday, April 4, 2025, at 6 p.m., a panel discussion on the second annual report on the climate plan will take place in the Haus der Bildung. Participation is free of charge. Registration is possible via the VHS Bonn website at www.vhs-bonn.de (opens in a new tab) (course number 1324).
The second annual report on Bonn's Climate Plan 2035 is available in the Council information system ALLRIS (opens in a new tab). The city administration has compiled more information on climate protection in Bonn on the city's website at www.bonn.de/klima (opens in a new tab).