Collaborative Climate Governance in Bonn: From Public Perception to Participatory Implementation

Located at the river Rhine in one of the warmest regions of Germany, Bonn is already facing floods and heatwaves. Bonn's Climate Plan 2035 aims for climate neutrality by 2035. However, over 60 per cent of required emission reductions lie outside the direct control of the municipality and its agencies. Urban climate neutrality hence requires more than top-down policy and efforts to reduce the administration's own emissions – it demands broad-based societal engagement. Hence, the Climate Plan also is flanked by adaptation measures and integrates outcomes from "Bonn4Future" – a 2-year participatory process including multiple citizen assemblies. This case study examines Bonn's dual strategy of (1) gaining a nuanced understanding of citizens' needs, attitudes and behaviours through a city-wide climate survey, and (2) creating tailored, low-threshold formats for climate action on neighbourhood-level and deliberative future forums. The survey and subsequent focus groups generated a differentiated picture of climate attitudes and engagement potential across population groups, serving as an empirical basis for participatory activities. 60-80 per cent of surveyed households already engage in climate adaptation or mitigation efforts. Climate awareness is relatively high, but the willingness to act remains lower, especially when it comes to effort-intensive actions or behavioural changes. In parallel to the empirical survey, the City of Bonn has initiated a place-based implementation framework through the establishment of four so-called Climate Districts ("Klimaviertel"). These districts function as decentralized hubs for participatory climate action and are are coordinated by local civil society organizations. As a further component of its participatory climate governance, the City of Bonn convened a city-wide Future Forum ("Zukunftsforum") with 100 randomly selected residents to ensure that updated climate policies reflect both the priorities and lived realities of the city's population. Overall, the case study shows the relevance of basing local climate governance on empirical data and participatory approaches.