The effects of climate change are becoming noticeable. Nevertheless, many rural districts and urban districts lack concrete adaptation concepts. There is also great concern about funding.
A large majority of rural districts and urban districts in Germany expect an increase in extreme weather events and fear a financial burden as a result. This is the result of a survey of journalists from North German Broadcasting (NDR), Bavarian Broadcasting (BR), West German Broadcasting (WDR) and the Correctiv research center.
Increasing financial burden expected
The research team asked all counties and urban districts for the analysis. 329 administrations took part, that is about 82 percent. 96 percent of the participating cities expect to be increasingly affected by extreme weather events such as heat, drought, water shortages, heavy rain or floods by 2050.
According to a Correcitv press release seen by Utopia, more than half of the administrations surveyed indicated that they are unlikely to be able to fund the necessary measures to prevent heat in the future. Those measures that are estimated to be necessary to adapt to climate change. A third assumes that some of the measures will be fundable.
Heat and drought measures poor
The journalists’ research shows that only a minority of administrations have had explicit adaptation concepts. In many districts there is also a lack of an overview of measures that already exist. About a quarter of the administrations surveyed have a climate adaptation concept. Such a concept is in the works for 22 percent. Almost half of the agencies surveyed could not produce a concept. According to the press release, experts are calling for early measures – such as long-term urban restructuring.
As part of the survey, the research team also recorded measures to deal with the consequences of climate change. 65 percent of the counties and independent cities have planted drought-resistant tree and plant species. In addition, 55 percent of the regions were armed against the increasing heat by greening trees and 48 percent by greening facades and roofs. However, the guidelines of the federal government provide for additional measures to protect against heat when implementing heat action plans.
The research shows that only 14 percent of the districts and urban districts have a heat action plan. 36 percent of them have one in the pipeline, which should be completed in the next five years.
Utopia looked at the heat measures of all 16 federal states at state level. The result: Hardly any federal state has a heat action plan – other relevant measures have also been developed to varying degrees.
Read more on Techzle.com:
- “Train for sweating in good time” to prevent heat death
- 60,000 heat deaths in Europe last year
- “Death sentence”: Monday broke the global weather record