Urban sustainability in Germany: which factors can explain the variety of commitment?

Abstract

German cities differ substantially in their use of multidimensional, integrated sustainability instruments. However, they have few legal obligations or incentives to deal with sustainability at all, raising the question: Which factors can explain the variety of commitment? With the help of cross-sectional regression analyses, the influence of socio-economic, institutional and political factors on the sustainability commitment of 188 German cities in 2021 was tested. For the measurement of sustainability commitment, an index from the newly collected dataset USUSCO was used. The results show that a consensus-oriented form of local government, historical connections to the Agenda-21 movement, a high seat share of left wing parties and voter associations, urbanity and pro-sustainability preferences of the population lead to strong sustainability commitment, while the mayors’ party affiliation, problem pressure or financial resources do not have considerable effects. Interestingly, these findings differ in part from those on local climate policy.