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Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia are to be obliged to carry out a “climate adaptation check” in all political decisions and planning projects.
A draft law passed by the NRW cabinet on Tuesday stipulates that the effects of climate change must be taken into account by the public administration.
NRW is bringing the nationwide first independent climate adaptation law on the way, said NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) in Düsseldorf.
However, the draft - like the climate protection law approved by the cabinet at the same time - still has to be passed by the state parliament.
With this, NRW wants to undertake to operate in a greenhouse gas-neutral manner in all areas by 2050.
This means that no more C02 may be emitted than the environment can completely compensate for.
The law is to come into force after the upcoming deliberations in the state parliament before the summer break.
In the 2013 Climate Protection Act, which is still in force, the red-green predecessor government set the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
As an intermediate step, a 55 percent reduction by 2030 is now being targeted.
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After hearing experts, the state government included a socially acceptable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the draft law in order to take the population with it, said Energy Minister Andreas Pinkwart (FDP).
In addition, the effectiveness and efficiency of the law are constantly being systematically checked.
In NRW, too, climate change has long been felt, explained Heinen-Esser, explaining the background to the legislative initiatives.
The mean annual temperature in NRW has risen by 1.6 degrees in a 30-year comparison.
There are now twelve summer days in NRW with over 25 degrees Celsius more than 100 years ago and four additional hot days over 30 degrees.
At the same time, the groundwater is almost one degree warmer than it was 30 years ago.
Already today, 6.9 million people in North Rhine-Westphalia, especially in overheated cities, are particularly affected by the development - according to forecasts by the State Environment Agency, it could be eleven million by 2050.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210309-99-753246 / 2