Symposium on climate protection and sustainability
2025-07-02 Leuphana University of Lüneburg hosted the state-wide symposium "Shaping the future: Municipal + Digital = Climate Neutral". Around 100 participants from municipalities, science and politics came together on campus to discuss innovative strategies for more climate protection and sustainability at municipal level.
The event was opened with a dialogue between Prof. Dr. Harald Heinrichs, State Secretary for the Environment Anka Dobslaw, Lüneburg's Mayor Claudia Kalisch, Dr. Jan Arning (NST) and Daniel Farnung (KEAN). In her opening statement, Dobslaw emphasized the clear objectives of the state of Lower Saxony to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. Prof. Dr. Harald Heinrichs added: "There are no simple solutions or one single lever. We need the broad participation of economic players as well as citizens. To achieve this, we also need to learn to make better use of digital tools for target group-oriented communication."
Lower Saxony municipal sustainability barometer
Leuphana University itself provided a central scientific foundation for the conference: Pia Redenius from the Leuphana School of Sustainability presented the Lower Saxony Municipal Sustainability Barometer developed by Leuphana. Published at the end of 2024, the study measures the sustainability performance of Lower Saxony's municipalities and identifies key areas for action. The most important results include:
- Scarcity of resources, in particular a shortage of skilled workers and tight budgets, make sustainable development more difficult.
- Sustainability and climate protection staff are now established in many municipalities, but are not yet deployed across the board in all administrative areas (e.g. culture).
- Municipal regulatory law, for example through urban land-use planning, has so far hardly been used as an instrument for climate protection and climate adaptation.
- The need for qualified personnel for municipal sustainability management, particularly in the area of climate change adaptation, remains high.
In a subsequent panel discussion, Prof. Dr. Heinrichs, Pia Wiebe (Hanseatic City of Lüneburg) and Dr. Jan Arning (NST), among others, exchanged views on ways and requirements for greenhouse gas-neutral municipalities. They discussed courage for implementation, structural obstacles and the importance of standardization and an active, creative administration.
- Concrete practical examples were provided in subsequent workshops, including on
- Digitalization in municipal energy management
- Sustainable procurement in municipalities in Lower Saxony
- Data use for a sustainable municipality
The conference concluded with a presentation by Prof. Dr. Sonja Peterson from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy on current developments in the CO₂ price and the resulting consequences for local authorities.
The “Lower Saxony Sustainability Strategy” project is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection. By hosting this conference, Leuphana University of Lüneburg is underlining its role as a scientific driving force for sustainable development at regional and state level.
