Zukunftsrat Hamburg

Working towards a sustainable Hamburg

Zukunftsrat Hamburg – acting under the auspices of Local Agenda 21 – is a network of over 100 organisations with a common aim: a sustainable Hamburg. Best Foot Forward was asked to provide an ecological footprint study of the Hamburg region using our innovative Regional Stepwise methodology.

This methodology splits an ecological footprint into policy-relevant “components” relating to key areas (such as the production and consumption of food, domestic energy, personal transport and trade). It is compatible with the methodology used by the European Common Indicators Programme and the Ecological Footprint Standards. It can therefore provide the basis for targeted action to reduce Hamburg's ecological footprint.

Our report revealed that food consumption and transport were the largest components and together were responsible for over half of Hamburg's ecological footprint. Goods consumed (and associated waste) was the next largest component.

As part of the project, Best Foot Forward also provided a simplified version of our Regional Stepwise tool which enables assessment of different options for reduction of Hamburg's ecological footprint. Any future initiatives or actions can be modelled with the tool to give visibility as to how they might reduce the ecological footprint. This is the start of a journey towards a One Planet Hamburg, whose consumption stays within the earth's limits.