Climate Impact Assessment

Determining the climate relevance of municipal resolutions

Cities and towns with ambitious climate plans often face the challenge of determining the climate relevance of particular measures. Particularly with regard to climate emergency resolutions, reviewing municipal decisions as to their climate impact is a central component.

The Climate Impact Assessment is an Excel-based tool developed by Climate Alliance in cooperation with the ifeu Institute. The tool helps to easily and quickly check and optimise municipal projects for their climate relevance and climate impact, from the initial idea all the way through to the draft resolution. The tool examines three essential aspects:

  • Is the proposal at all climate relevant?
  • What climate impact does the proposal have?
  • Is an examination of alternatives recommended?

The two-stage tool consists of a basic and main assessment. In the basic assessment, the climate relevance of the proposal is assessed by answering eight questions. The main examination is then used for a more detailed look at climate-relevant projects. The project is categorised according to the field of action it impacts most as well as the extent of that impact and whether the impact is positive or negative.

The tool is continuously being optimised, but version 2.0 is already available to all municipalities and can be downloaded here free of charge.

Climate Impact Assessment Tool (Excel file, in German)

Learn more about tool with this explainer video (in German).