Climate Adaptation Management in Germany: Adapting to the Effects of Climate Change in Urban Lower Saxony

German cities and municipalities are increasingly confronted with the consequences of climate change and are already taking measures to adapt to the risks posed by climate impacts such as heat, heavy rain, flooding, drought, and storms. The research project examines the practice of climate adaptation in Germany, focusing on the role that climate adaptation managers (CAM) play in relation to other actors and entities: What agency do they have to implement sustainable and socially just adaptation measures and make cities and municipalities more resilient?

The appointment of CAM in municipalities represents a significant step forward in institutional climate adaptation in Germany. As managers, their main task is to coordinate a municipality's adaptation efforts across various departments, to develop municipal climate adaptation plans, and to coordinate their implementation. In addition, they are responsible for transferring knowledge about climate risks and adaptation to the various municipal departments as well as to civic society. Climate adaptation is often described as a cross-cutting task that encompasses all areas of urban development.

The research is based on the assumption that CAMs exercise varying degrees of agency in their everyday professional lives, which is influenced by local and supraregional structures and factors. The aim of the research project is to understand how they deal with these different influences in order to effectively shape climate adaptation at the local level. Based in the city and region of Hanover in Lower Saxony, practices, and the associated networks and mobilities of knowledge for climate adaptation in Germany are being examined for this purpose. Using qualitative ethnographic research methods, CAM and other climate adaptation experts are accompanied to various places.

CAM often operate at the interface between different levels of climate adaptation governance and are therefore the ideal starting point for researching the interactions between the various actors, institutions, policies, laws, and practices involved in climate adaptation. Analyzing the relational processes between the different entities helps to understand how climate adaptation is influenced and practiced locally by the state. It also provides insight into the effects that municipal climate adaptation management can have within the network of climate adaptation actors, as well as the conditions that facilitate or hinder adaptation to climate risks at the local level.

Project period: 1 January 2026 – 31 October 2029