Date of publication: 01.11.2025
Situated at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar rivers, Mannheim is a city of transformation. Once emblematic of industrial progress and invention — it is the birthplace of the bicycle, the automobile and the electric elevator — it is now a laboratory for Europe’s green transition.
Home to around 320,000 people, Mannheim is the cultural and economic hub of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region in south-west Germany. Today, the city is translating its innovative spirit into climate action. Its vision is clear: to become climate-neutral and climate-resilient by 2030 while ensuring that nature and social inclusion are integral to this transition. Guided by its Local Green Deal, Climate Action Plan 2030 and overall city Mission Statement Mannheim 2030, the city is reimagining itself as a place where people, nature and infrastructure can coexist, and where citizens can play an active role in creating a sustainable future. These efforts culminated in Mannheim’s Climate City Contract, the overall vision of the city of Mannheim for climate neutrality, which was awarded with the EU 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 Mission Label in 2024.
Mannheim has established climate neutrality as a principle for its sustainability agenda with urban nature as one foundational pillar. Guided by its Climate Action Plan 2030, the city is transforming itself with the aim of becoming both climate-neutral and nature-positive. What sets Mannheim's approach apart is its belief that systemic transformation begins with people — citizens, communities, and local businesses working together to create a greener future. An example of successful collaboration is the creation of Mannheim’s Municipal Biodiversity Strategy which is being designed with co-creation and participation processes involving stakeholders across the city society.
Across the city, greening and decarbonisation are happening together. Through initiatives such as Commit2Green, residents are collaborating with the municipality to plant trees and green roofs and façades, and to remove sealed surfaces in the city centre. Moreover, the city, in cooperation with its Climate Action Agency, supports citizens through funding programs for greening and unsealing projects. Since 2016, this funding has enabled the greening of approximately 10,000 square meters of roofs and the unsealing and greening of nearly 3,000 square meters of private land. These efforts reduce urban heat, store carbon and reconnect citizens with nature in their daily surroundings.
Meanwhile, Mannheim’s Local Green Deal acts as a bridge between policy and practice.
It unites city departments, universities, businesses and civil society to develop 'local deals' — tangible partnerships and actions that promote climate neutrality while enhancing quality of life. Projects such as Urban Nature Plans+ and Urban ReLeaf reinforce this work by linking biodiversity, climate adaptation, and citizen science.This ensures that the green transformation is informed by both data and lived experience.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate that becoming climate-neutral is not just a technical goal for Mannheim — it is also a social and ecological journey that is transforming an industrial city into a thriving green community.
"Mannheim is an active member in the ICLEI city network harnessing the power of international collaboration to forge our common vision of green, sustainable and future-proof cities into reality. In 2020 we had the pleasure of hosting ICLEI’s 9th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns in Mannheim. Together we crafted the Mannheim Message calling for transformation at the municipal level to bring about a resilient, inclusive and sustainable Europe. Mannheim is proud to lead this movement as a city, partnering with our local stakeholders to achieve our goal of becoming a climate-neutral and nature-positive city through the development of Local Green Deals."
Prof. Dr. Diana Pretzell, Deputy and Environmental Mayor, City of Mannheim
Mannheim has been an ICLEI Member since 2017, actively contributing to the global network’s work on sustainable urban transformation.
Exchanges with other network members, participation in seminars offered by ICLEI, and support from ICLEI's expertise in sustainable urban development are helping Mannheim on its way to becoming an even more sustainable, biodiverse city. Mannheim is collaborating with ICLEI on various European projects, such as UNP+, GreenDemo, ALLIANCE and Commit2Green. In these projects, the city benefits from valuable cooperation and expertise to implement European objectives at the local level, while at the same time the consortium and the EU gain from the city’s role in testing and demonstrating pilot actions.
As part of the NetZeroCities framework, Mannheim is collaborating with ICLEI and other European partners to develop, submit and implement its Climate City Contract. This involves testing new governance models and co-creation tools that link local action with European climate goals. The city’s Local Green Deal Team is an institutional model for multi-stakeholder collaboration, demonstrating how municipalities can facilitate systemic change. Through this approach, Mannheim embodies what ICLEI stands for: local leadership for a sustainable global future.
