All of the city's projects will be assessed for their impact on the climate in future
02.08.2022
Due to the consequences of climate change that can already be felt today, the city of Offenbach will in future review all of its projects for their potential impact on the climate. "Politicians and the administration have a responsibility to ensure that the city is prepared for the consequences of climate change and, at best, refrains from projects that further exacerbate climate change and its effects," says Mayor and Head of Climate Change Sabine Groß, explaining the decision of the city council, which will be on the agenda of the city council meeting in September. This stipulates that all applications submitted by the city council must include a publicly accessible report on climate relevance. This should make it clear whether the project has a positive, negative or neutral impact on the climate before a decision is made. All organizational units are obliged to fill out a corresponding form in advance and coordinate it with the Office for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection if necessary.
"It is currently becoming very clear how important it is that we actively tackle climate protection and adaptation at a municipal level. Many people are suffering from the extreme heat this summer. There have already been more than 1,000 heat-related deaths in Portugal, summer forest fires are becoming more frequent and more devastating, farmers are suffering crop failures and the groundwater level continues to fall due to a lack of rainfall. It is therefore important that we take action and the good thing is that we can counteract climate change if we act consistently," says Groß. The consequences are already being felt in Offenbach too: many trees in the city have already had to be felled due to a lack of water and the Zweckverband Wasserversorgung Stadt und Kreis Offenbach is calling for water conservation, as the rising demand cannot be met by increasing the amount of water supplied. "Climate change is also endangering the quality of life and health of people in Offenbach due to heat stress, heavy rainfall, drought and invasive species. Trees and green spaces are suffering from the heat and drought and we have to expect that a lack of rainfall will increasingly affect our drinking water supply."
Climate change causes damage and high costs
To counteract these and other consequences, the city of Offenbach was one of the first municipalities to develop a climate adaptation concept. The measures implemented by the city include the unsealing guideline and the stormwater regulations. Both projects provide for more rainwater to seep into the ground in order to raise the groundwater level again in the long term. "These measures are intended to help turn Offenbach into a so-called sponge city. In this way, we want to discharge less rainwater into the sewage system and instead use it to raise the groundwater level and irrigate plants." The climate relevance assessment process is to be evaluated by the Office for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection after one year.
Groß emphasizes: "We expect the climate assessment to give us clarity about what effects we can expect. We want to use these findings to adapt our actions for more climate protection and adaptation." The mayor and head of the environment department also sees economic added value in investments in climate protection and adaptation: "A study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics was published last week. The surveys show that over the past 22 years, extreme weather events have caused an average of at least 6.6 billion euros in damage in Germany every year. Over the entire period, this corresponds to a dramatic amount of almost 145 billion euros. Every euro invested in climate protection and climate adaptation reduces much more expensive damage caused by increasing climate change."
Office for Environment and Climate
Stadt Offenbach am Main - Kaiserpalais
Kaiserstraße 39
63065 Offenbach
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