North Rhine-Westphalia

Climate leadership showcase

Climate protection in North Rhine-Westphalia: development of greenhouse gas emissions, goals and strategies, instruments and perspectives.

Ministry od Economy, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia report on climate protection policy. The report outlines the path to green gas neutrality, identifying the main emitters of GHGs, being the energy sector, industry, transport and buildings. The government has pledged to decouple the economic growth- GHG emissions nexus. The climate priorities include a strong energy policy, investing in climate-friendly technologies and phasing out coal and nuclear energy power generation. Three main fields have been selected for targeted action: energy industry, mobility and buildings, municipalities and state administration and research and development.

Rheinisches revier project (IN4climate.RR)
Structural transformation for local industries in the affected regions after coal phase-out. The project is dedicated to create a network for innovation, knowledge transfer and cooperation between the industries, government and academia. In addition to defossilising the industries, a just transition which ensures regional economic competitiveness and job opportunities is also a main goal of this project.

Coal phase-out and the expansion of renewable energy
Since 2022, the state government has set its ambition for coal-exit in year 2030 (previously: 2038) and accelerate the decarbonization of the electricity sector. A massive expansion of renewables are planned through a variety of policy measures.

Support for the municipalities for heating transition and adaptation
Transforming the heating sector from municipal level has been prioritized to reduce emissions. NRW launched its competence center to provide municipalities with free counseling, information and events for their heating transition at the local level.
Many municipalities are faced with the extreme weathers induced by climate change. The state government of NRW support them with the information and guidelines for funding applications at the EU level.