City greening their economy; In Office and in Action Experiences made by the City of Hannover/Germany Hans Mönninghoff Deputy Chief Executive (Vice Mayor) Director of Economic and Environmental Affairs

Hans Mönninghoff since 23 yearsHead of the Directorate of Environmental Affairs since 17 years also Deputy of the Lord Mayor in his function as Chief Executive since 7 yearsalso Head of Directorate of Economic Affairs employees in the combined Directorate Budget: about 315 Mio. € for running expenses p.a. about 100 Mio. € for Investment p.a. Civil Engineer (Water and Energy) Member of the GREEN Party

City of Hannover in Germany 520,000 inhabitants and 272,000 employees Capital and economic centre of the regional state of Lower Saxony (e.g. the world’s largest trade fair location) A very green City Since 24 Years a Coalition between Social-Democrats (SPD, 37,0 %) and die GREEN Party (21,4 %) with a strong focus on sustainability

Combination of environmental and economical tasks in one department the founding of an independent environ- mental department in 1988 was clear progress 2005 Hannover combined the environmental and economic tasks it was observed very critically meanwhile it is a success story following 9 examples

Example 1: Municipal Land- and Construction Policies the Economic Administration of the City buys up areas of land which are further developed in planning and then sold for industrial settlement and housing construction plots are not sold for the highest possible price, but the contract is awarded to the one realizing the highest ecological standard the standard is defined in detail in the contract of sale in addition city authority has quite a strong influence on buildings and design through stipulations made in urban planning and urban planning contracts

Example 2: minimizing conflicts between construction activities and nature conservation As the Number of Inhabitants and the Economy is growing, an area of 11 hectares on average open space was needed annually for building development In other cities, such development projects often caused hard controversies between politics and nature conservation, but very few in Hannover, because: 1.The City administration is able to convince the environmental NGOs, that the reactivation of commercial wasteland is prior-ranking and open spaces only utilized as far as is really necessary 2.Attention is paid to the conservation of environmental spaces and fresh air corridors for climate protection 3.When open spaces are developed, Investors have to pay a lot for nature conservation at other places 4.planned sites for housing and business are situated close to existing public transport systems; Building in the city is regarding environmental issues better than building in “hinterland”

more than 120 enterprises have been examined in a cooperative project between business and city administration for possibilities to save money through improvement measures in the areas of water, energy, waste etc., the enterprises help to protect the environment and save resources, which stabilizes their economic position In a pilot project we tried to implement our experiences to the City of Panticiua/China Ex.3: Ecoprofit

Example 4: Eco-Procurement The city purchases e.g. office supplies, furniture for Mio €. Energy costs and construction work add another 100 Mio € Since 1987 the responsible staff is obligated to assess the environmental impact in order to purchase the most ecological product (if affordable) A central service-unit, checklists and trainings offer support. A controllingsystem is established Staff canteens, the Hannover Congress Centre etc. sell fair trade coffee, tea, chocolate Other imported products (cobbles, textiles for uniforms etc.) have to proof that production minds human and labor rights and refrains from using exploitative child labor.

Ex. 5: Management of publicly owned buildings management of about 600 buildings (schools, kindergartens, administration buildings etc.). Retrofitting municipal buildings, energy saving standards are 30% higher than the (high) legal standard All new municipal buildings will be erected as passive- houses Large roofs of municipal buildings are rented out for the installation of photovoltaic panels – benefiting the communal financial budget (in the moment 31 installations producing electricity for the requirements of 1,300 people)

Ex. 6: Regional thinking for sustainability Support of Farmers Markets in the City only for regional products (priority organic) Support of a Business to Business fair to keep orders in the region In discussion: a special label: „renewable energy from the region“; support of Citizen Fonds for Financing renewable energy – also more acceptance economic: added value in the region environmetal: short distances – few energy social: jobs; producers and customers can get in contact

Example 7: sustainable aspects in the economic promotion Financial promotion programms (funded bei EU-EFRE) only for sustainable projects Special programms for bussiness-start- ups for women and migrants special programms for jobless persons in sustainable programms

Very important Example 8: The Energy Sector Energy sector offers best opportunities for synergy between environment and economy on a local level due to economic growth, increase of housing area per inhabitant and more heavy goods vehicle and air traffic, the energy consumption in Hannover has decreased by 10% from 1990 to 2010 (while in many other cities it has increased) there still remains a lot to be done; campaign “Climate Alliance 2020”: –All bigger companies, housing associations, interest groups etc. took part in the discussion and development of the climate protection program –There is a commitment of all stakeholders to the goal: 40% reduction of carbon dioxide by 2020 compared to 1990

Very helpfull: ProClimate-Fund 5 million Euros have been granted annually for the last 10 years through an additional charge on the gas sold in the city and the profit made by the municipal energy utility about 1,000 projects have been funded each year. –subsidies for home owners who insulate their buildings further than is required by law –training for craftsmen and architects –realization of flagship projects a monetary support of 1 Euro makes about 10 Euros of private capital accessible, being a development program for regional commerce, especially tradesmanship.

The Goal 2050: A carbon free Hannover-Region! It has a very positive economic impact Inhabitants, commerce and industry in Hannover spend approximately 1.5 billion € annually on electricity, heating and fuel. Included are 440 million € of procurement costs for gas, oil and coal which flow in the direction of Russia, the Near East and Australia. If it is possible to become independent from energy imports by reducing the energy consumption and through regenerative energy sources, the best part of this 440 million Euros will be made available to regional economy every year.

Ex. 9: Last but not least: Sustainability as an important factor of City Marketing Ecological topics have obtained a significantly higher emphasis during the recent years Tourism advertising highlights the city’s parks and recreational areas (increase of 70 % overnight stays 2001 – 2011) When relating to acquisition for the settlement of new companies, advertising is used to point out the high quality of life and especially the green spaces in the city as a “soft location factor” Migration of high skilled labour away from Hannover is extremely low compared to other cities; the excellent environment, enough places for children in the kindergartens and the high quality of life are the main reasons for this.

The Conclusion: Hannover mastered the financial and the Euro-debt crisis quite well; positive financial results of the City budget in four of five consecutive years approximately 10,000 more sources of employment in the Hannover Region than in 2006; close to 3,000 people work in the climate protection sector being a part of this success story. On the other side: in 2011 Hannover was proclaimed “German Capital of Biodiversity” in contest with 129 other cities

The driving forces: 1.Long-term thinking and doing 2.A political majority, setting priorities on sustain- ability; two examples: If ecological standards are given higher priority than sales prices income may have to be relinquished. If required energy standards are made higher than the legal standard, the investment is higher and we can retrofit less schools every year, as the investment-budget is limited. 3.Precondition for sustainable policy-making is a great acceptance of the inhabitants. Hannover does a lot to achieve this (e.g. Agenda21-Process, civic participation, sustainability marketing and so on) – but this would be a topic of its own…

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