Heidelberg

Germany

Mission city Pilot city
Germany National Platform
Heidelberg Mission City Label
Population 160k
City Area 108.8 km²
City active since June 2022

With its climate protection concept adopted in 1992, the city of Heidelberg was one of the first cities in Germany to have a systematic plan for climate protection at the local level, backed up by measures. Under the motto "think globally - act locally," decisive steps were taken in the 1990s to set the course for municipal climate protection.

 

In 1997, this also included the establishment of a local energy consulting service, which today has expanded its sphere of activity as the Heidelberg and RhineNeckar District Climate Protection Agency and supports municipalities and the citizens of the entire region in their climate protection efforts. Influenced by the international sustainability debate, the Enquete Commission of the German Bundestag, and the conferences in Aalborg and Rio, the goals of Heidelberg's climate protection and CO2 reduction were also incorporated into the city's sustainability strategy, the Urban Development Plan, in 1997.

 

Supplemented by the energy concept and the transport development plan, as well as numerous updates, Heidelberg has succeeded in anchoring climate protection programmatically and financially in many of the city's departments, as well as motivating external actors to actively protect the climate. Most recently, the establishment of a separate department for climate protection, the environment and mobility in 2020 strengthened the organizational anchoring of climate protection in the administration. An important milestone in Heidelberg's climate protection process is the "100 % Climate Protection Master Plan" adopted by the municipal council in 2014 and updated in 2019. In this approach to climate neutrality 2050, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and developed in exchange with 40 municipalities,

 

Heidelberg was able to adopt climate protection strategies as a model municipality, which had previously been developed in a comprehensive participation process. Other innovative approaches and bundles of measures complement Heidelberg's efforts towards climate protection and sustainability. These include, for example, the Sustainable Business Network with its focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, the city administration's energy concept for its own properties, the heat transformation path, and green district heating.

Key Learnings

Heidelberg, Germany - case studies - Intelligent Cities Challenge

The Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) is a European Commission initiative bringing together 136 cities to achieve intelligent, socially responsible and sustainable growth through advanced technologies. This resources includes case studies from the city of Heidelberg, Germany related to: Corporate mobility management – sustainable commuting and traffic solutions Fashion Revolution Weeks 2025 – raising awareness for sustainable fashion Urban Innovation 2025 – co-creation for climate-neutral and inclusive neighbourhoods Heidelberger Datenputz - campaign is the reduction of data storage on virtual drives and cloud storage

Smart lighting Bahnstadt Heidelberg, Germany

Heidelberg is a small to medium-sized city in Southwest Germany. Between 2012 and 2017, the city’s population grew from 138,000 to 150,000 people. In order to accommodate the population growth, in 2008 the city of Heidelberg began to convert land once occupied by a railroad terminal into a modern green district. The area, known as Bahnstadt Heidelberg, has a maximum capacity of 12,000 persons. Energy- efficient and smart street lighting concepts were one of the central elements incorporated into the development (Heidelberg Bahnstadt 2014). Source: Smart lighting Bahnstadt Heidelberg, Germany  

Twinning Replication Booklet

Overview of Replications Plans submitted by Twin cities (Cohort 1, 2023-2025) The first cohort of the Twinning Learning Programme (Sept 2023 – May 2025) paired 56 Pilot Cities implementing 25 innovative climate-neutral activities with 37 Twin cities eager to replicate their approaches. Over nearly two years,cities engaged in a structured programme of online workshops, in-person visits, and facilitated exchanges, enabling Twin cities to closely follow pilot implementation and translate insights into Replication Plans tailored to their own contexts. The programme demonstrated that well-designed peer learning, anchored in real pilot projects, creates tangible outcomes. Twin cities developed Replication Plans across diverse areas such as sustainable mobility, energy decarbonisation, circular economy, and citizen engagement, while also contributing fresh perspectives that strengthened Pilot city efforts. The result is Europe’s largest peer-learning initiative under the Cities Mission, with 37 Replication Plans now paving the way toward climate neutrality across a broad range of local contexts.
View all Heidelberg Resources

Latest updates from the city

Pilot project spotlight

Germany's Pilot Activity: Climate City Dash 2.0
German Munich, Dortmund, and Heidelberg, Germany Munich, 1,512,491 inhabitants Dortmund, 593,317 inhabitants Heidelberg, 162,273 inhabitants Background Dortmund, Heidelberg, and Munich have independently explored and identified the ClimateOS platform as a promising
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Read Heidelberg Climate City Contract

External projects

City involvement in related European initiatives