CHARACTERISTICS AND FORMS OF THE URBAN CLIMATE
2.11.2 Prevention of Climate Change

International agreements were reached to prevent climate change. In the aftermath of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, more than 192 nations ratified a Framework Convention on Climate Change which committed all signatory nations to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Rio +20 was another Earth Summit entitled "United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development", which was held in Brazil in June 2012. The objectives declared in Rio de Janeiro were concretised in later conferences, like 1997 in Kyoto . The Kyoto Protocol set binding obligations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases until 2012. The signatory nations have meanwhile agreed to a roadmap for a second commitment period. By signing the treaty of the Rio Conference, the member states, including Germany , have spoken out in favour of a long-term, sustainable development. They have explicitly committed themselves to start a "Local Agenda 21" for action at the local level. The "Local Agenda 21" wants to find answers to the question: What needs to be done on the local level to secure the future of our children in the 21st century.

This means that local governments and all citizens are called upon facing the threat of the greenhouse effect. We must prevent a further increase of greenhouse gas emissions, which are mainly the result of the combustion of fossil fuels. There are huge possibilities for lowering the emission of these harmful gases and cities and their inhabitants play an important role in their reduction. This is particularly true for the room heat and transport sectors (Fig. 2/29).

Numerous cities have enacted climate protection concepts in recent years. The City of Stuttgart developed a Climate Protection Concept (Fig. 2/29a) (LANDESHAUPTSTADT STUTTGART, 1997) that contains comprehensive measures for climate protection. The following are particularly relevant for planning: