Climate impact assessment calculated directly in ClimateView for the first time

The city of Jena has, for the first time, calculated its current energy and greenhouse gas balance directly within the ClimateView digital monitoring platform. The results for 2024 are now available online. According to these figures, greenhouse gas emissions in Jena stood at around 489,000 tonnes (t) of CO₂eq. Compared with the base year 2019, to which Jena’s Climate Action Plan refers, this represents a reduction of around 75,000 t CO₂eq, or 13 per cent. Despite this progress, Jena is still above the target trajectory. The Climate Action Plan’s climate neutrality scenario envisages greenhouse gas emissions of 432,000 t for 2024.

“By calculating the energy and greenhouse gas balance directly in ClimateView for the first time, we are improving our climate protection monitoring and creating a transparent data basis for further planning. The results for 2024 show that we have already made progress. At the same time, it is clear that we must step up our efforts to achieve our intended path to climate neutrality. With climate protection monitoring in ClimateView, we can regularly review the impact of our measures and thus consistently further develop the Climate Action Plan: for a resilient, environmentally friendly and sustainable Jena,” says Kathleen Lützkendorf, Head of the Department for Social Affairs, Health, Immigration and Climate.

Tracking emissions in individual sectors

ClimateView makes the city’s climate protection activities and their impact on greenhouse gas emissions transparent and traceable. In addition to trends for the city as a whole, emissions from individual sectors can also be displayed in an interactive chart. These include buildings, transport and industry. This makes it possible to see how emissions are developing in the various sectors and where further action is needed.

In particular, emissions in the transport sector did not fall as sharply as hoped. The target was 156,000 tonnes of CO₂eq, but 171,000 tonnes of CO₂eq were recorded. By contrast, in the residential sector, the targeted emission level of 124,000 tonnes of CO₂eq for 2024 was actually undershot. Actual emissions stood at 119,000 tonnes of CO₂eq.

Furthermore, the digital dashboard documents the progress made in implementing key climate protection measures and provides residents, politicians and the administration with an up-to-date overview of climate protection activities in Jena.

The data for climate protection monitoring is sourced from numerous partners and organisations. These include, amongst others, Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck, Stadtwerke Jena Netze, Jenaer Nahverkehr, Kommunale Immobilien Jena (KIJ), Kommunalservice Jena (KSJ), jenarbeit, JenaKultur, the Fire Service, Schott AG and Rautal Gebäudemanagement GmbH, which provide data on energy consumption in buildings and in the transport sector. Further statistical information is supplied by the City Administration’s Statistics Team, the Mobility Department and the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The Agency for Municipal Climate Protection provides the necessary emission factors. The Climate Unit was also supported by the Thuringian Institute for Sustainability and Climate Protection (ThINK) in the collection and processing of the data.

A basis for the further development of the Climate Action Plan

Monitoring serves not only to provide information but also to support the strategic management of climate protection. The data collected forms an important basis for regularly evaluating measures under Jena’s Climate Action Plan and adapting them where necessary. In the future, ClimateView will also present various development scenarios. This will enable the impacts of further climate protection measures to be better assessed and realistic pathways to climate neutrality to be developed.

Climate protection monitoring will be continuously updated and expanded in future. Further information is available at ClimateView.