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Integrated Climate Change Concept
for the Capital City of Potsdam

The combating global climate change is one of the central challenges of the 21^st Century. The summer of 2010 with its large-scale climatic disasters in Pakistan, China and Russia illustrate the consequences of global warming.

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and policies to adapt to climate change are also directed at local government level via climate change concepts. Particularly in local governments there are potentially large energy savings in the heating and transportation sector. Measures that are based on the principle of short distances and at the same time use renewable energy on site reduce CO₂ emissions immensely.

Potsdam has set its goals: reducing CO₂ emissions in 2020 by 20% compared to those of 2005 and emit only 2.5 tonnes of CO₂ per inhabitant per year from 2050 onwards. In January 2010 a consortium led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) was asked to create an integrated climate change concept for Potsdam. The project partners are:

• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Umbau Stadt GbR,
• BLS Energieplan GmbH,
• BSF Swissphoto GmbH,
• FH-Osnabrück,
• GEOkomm-networks e.V., Kompetenznetzwerk Geoinformationswirtschaft,
• IVU Traffic Technologies AG,
• Leifeld Unternehmensberatung GmbH,
• LUP - Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH,
• VMZ Betreibergesellschaft mbH.

During the development phase of the local concept, measures in the fields of energy, transportation, urban and landscape planning as well as marketing were created. LUP is responsible for landscape planning.

For the assessment of the urban situation, climate-relevant indices (including surface sealing, green volume, solar plant cadastre) are recorded using area-wide remote sensing methods and are then evaluated on a statistical block level or on the level of roofs. The required data collection methods are also transferable to other cities. The developed city climate map describes the status quo in the fields of "climatic evaluation of the settlement areas", "climatic functions", "protected areas", "water conservation", "fens" and "flood protection". Fields of action are then highlighted from the derived map measures. These measures can be divided into two groups: those that reduce CO₂ emissions and those that adapt to climate change.

LUP provides the creation of local climate change concepts with measures in all the aforementioned fields. In co-operation with the PIK and other partners, LUP can provide all your climate change needs.