PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The German government’s Climate Action Program 2020 (CAP) and the German Climate Protection Plan 2050 (CPP) aim reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 40% by 2020 and up to 95% by 2050. Through its energy transition policy – Energiewende – Germany has set key targets for increasing energy efficiency and expanding renewable energies. While technical solutions, policy strategies and financing exist, they still need to be used on a large scale. A major change in consumer behaviour and land-use strategies in rural areas is necessary. The objectives for renewable energies can only be achieved with massive installations of wind, solar and biomass energy technologies. These can only be constructed in rural, often remote areas, where the climate-friendly energy solutions comply with restrictions for nature protection – e.g. on and near sensitive areas, such as nature conservation sites, national parks, biosphere reserves and nature parks.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE IP ZENAPA project will resolve the opposing interests of climate mitigation and nature conservation. Ten protected areas (PAs) in Germany and one in Luxemburg, as well as their surrounding buffer zones, and a model community are partners in the project and will act as initiators and incubators for low-carbon emission regions. ZENAPA aims to generate investment from within the local communes and regions and use the profits from climate mitigation (sale of renewable energy) to support nature conservation and related tourist development. The project will initiate and test new governance and management approaches in order to create link between climate mitigation actions and nature conservation. The IP will improve implementation of the CAP 2020 and CPP 2050 targets while addressing the objectives and targets of German biodiversity and bio-economy strategies, starting with providing and implementing new strategies, setting up climate protection plans and using other governance instruments.
LIFE-IP ZENAPA will implement and integrate large-scale Complementary Actions (CAs) targeting energy efficiency, renewable energies and sustainable, climate-protecting land use that strengthens biodiversity. The proposed core actions of the project add up to an investment of around €8 million. Third party investments triggered by ZENAPA will lead to additional investments of €183 million. When taking account the CAs, the scale of the implementation increases by an amount between 480 million and €1.3 billion.
The planning of 90 smart villages will incorporate new land-use strategy concepts that increase the potential of bio-economy in the regions. The links between climate and energy solutions and nature conservation will be strengthened by:
Finally, the LIFE IP will build up human capacity and resilient networks in the PAs and their adjoining regions to ensure continuity and a continuous improvement within the regions. It will also leverage and help to implement best practice for other target groups in the adjoining buffer zone areas. Furthermore, it will foster dialogue among different stakeholder groups on climate change and environmental protection and encourage PAs administrations to become green ‘ambassadors’.
The investment triggered by the complementary action ranges between 5 to 14 million € in one village, resulting in a total investment triggered by complementary actions of 480 million to 1,3 billion €, depending on the scale of implementation.
The expected investments can receive in average funding of around 20% from different national and European funding schemes, resulting in around 90 million to 260 million € of mobilised funds.
RESULTS
Expected results:
