A local network as the key to a climate-neutral administration

On the road to climate neutrality, cities and towns must also consider the CO₂ emissions in their direct sphere of influence. Climate-neutral administration is the keyword here. However, accounting for emissions in a municipality's area of responsibility poses many challenges, especially for larger cities. With its strategy, however, the Bavarian capital of Munich shows how all municipal stakeholders can work together.

Corporate Carbon Footprint is the name given by the Munich city administration to its instrument for monitoring the goal of climate neutrality by 2030. The pathway to a climate-neutral administration has started back in 2019 with the first carbon footprint assessment. The foundation of the endeavour was the city council's climate neutrality resolution, a key building block for the subsequent success of the project. What is so special about the Munich Way, is the involvement of all municipal enterprises and associated companies in which the city holds at least 50 % of the shares. The challenge here? The sheer size of the group of managing directors, climate protection managers and other contact persons from all participating institutions requires strategic dialogue and good communication.

Networking as the key to success
"A key success factor for us is networking, as this is the only way we can involve all 200 or so people involved and motivate them to join in. It is also important that we as the city administration act as a central point of contact and hold the threads together," explains Astrid Keidel, Department for Climate and Environmental Protection of the City of Munich. As intermediary, the city organises information events on the process and schedule of data delivery and reporting as well as regular network meetings, most recently on the topics of PV funding and corporate sustainability reporting, for example, which have met with great interest from many companies. The city administration also uses the network to bring participants together in a targeted manner and facilitate synergies across institutions and departments. For example, the clinics and care homes can exchange ideas and learn from each other in the area of sustainable procurement or on the topic of "sustainability in the kitchen". The collaboration is perceived as very beneficial by all those involved, and the companies cooperate very well.

The challenge of comparability
However, involving the associated companies in the climate-neutral administration project also comes with challenges, such as the joint balancing and communication of the results. The city administration recently published the 2020 and 2021 balance sheets. However, when looking at the results table, it quickly becomes clear that the figures need to be explained. The base years of the companies differ and the trends in the figures are subject to fluctuations that need to be explained. There are many reasons for this: external factors such as the covid pandemic or the war in Ukraine, increases in floor space caused by the need to build new schools in a constantly growing city, for example, different data availability or reporting standards in the companies.

Double balancing is another challenge, especially as the emissions data of the municipal utilities reflects the entire energy production and therefore also the final energy consumption of the other companies involved. It quickly becomes evident: without the appropriate communication, there is room for misunderstandings. The Munich City Council meets this challenge by supporting and advising the companies and providing detailed and comprehensive explanations in its monitoring reports and publishes announcements every two years, which are agreed internally with the companies. "Specific measures for climate neutrality are also described as part of the climate roadmaps, which the companies also draw up with the support of the Corporate Carbon Footprint team and which are tracked using greenhouse gas monitoring. This could also be included in the reporting, but in our case this is not comprehensively possible due to the large number of measures and is fulfilled via other reporting obligations," comments Astrid Keidel.

In terms of measures for a climate-neutral administration, Munich is drawing on the full potential and is focusing in particular on the retrofits of its own properties and high energy efficiency standards for new buildings, switching to renewable energy sources and decarbonising district heating. The administration is also focusing on raising the awareness of its employees, sustainable mobility options and sustainable internal guidelines, e.g. for business trips. Looking ahead to the next balancing period, positive developments in emissions can also be observed. The upcoming assessment is also the first that the city has carried out using Climate Alliance's ESG Cockpit tool, which is operated by the Austrian software company akaryon. The administration has procured the accounting tool and is now making it available free of charge to all participating organisations, which either only enter data for the city's balance sheet or independently create their own reports for corporate sustainability reporting. Those involved receive comprehensive training and advice from the team. The aim is to enable efficient and simplified reporting throughout the city in future.

Tips for local authorities
The path to a climate-neutral administration can be very challenging, especially in a large city like Munich. Asked for tips for other cities and towns, Astrid Keidel names a few success factors – regardless of whether it's for a large city or a rural town: "In my view, a key building block for the success of the project is the decision in favour of climate-neutral administration at the highest level – be it an official council resolution or a directive from the mayor. This is the prerequisite for everyone to join in and pull together." It is also advisable to point out to the contact persons when working with the municipal enterprises and associated companies that some of their companies are even subject to legal obligations, which they can fulfil by working towards a climate-neutral administration – a win-win situation for both sides. Furthermore, Keidel also finds the thematic exchange outside the municipality beneficial, for example through Climate Alliance networking offers during in-person events or online workshops. This makes it possible to learn from each other, gain insights into other perspectives and advance the goal of climate-neutral administration at city or town level.

Learn more

• Corporate Carbon Footprint Report 2020/2021 (in German)
• ESG-Cockpit

_{Written in June 2025}