The indicator shows the share of implemented climate protection measures as a sum index of 19 dichotomous variables, based on a standardized questionnaire (Peters et al., 2020).

In 2021, the questions were answered as follows:

1. Is there a political decision on municipal climate protection targets in your municipality? Answer: No
   
2. Has a climate protection concept been drawn up in your municipality? Answer: No
   
3. Does your municipality have personnel who are explicitly responsible for climate protection? Answer: Yes
   
4. Has a greenhouse gas/CO2 balance been calculated and updated at least once? Answer: No
   
5. Is there regular or institutionalized interdepartmental cooperation within the local government on climate protection? Answer: No
   
6. Is there staff exclusively responsible for energy management? Answer: Yes
   
7. Does your municipality have a cycling or walking officer? Answer: Yes
   
8. Are renewable energy sources used on municipal properties? Answer: Yes
   
9. Has your municipality conducted a systematic investigation to identify which of the municipal buildings could be considered for the use of (certain) renewable energies? Answer: Yes
   
10. Is there a systematic investigation for the use of (certain) renewable energies for your entire municipality or region (beyond municipal properties)? Answer: No
    
11. Are there concrete targets for the use of renewable energies in your own properties? Answer: Yes
    
12. Are there concrete targets for the expansion of renewable energies for the entire municipality? Answer: No
    
13. Is climate-friendly procurement the rule in your municipality? Answer: No
    
14. Does your municipality make use of existing land use planning, urban planning or other regulatory competences in order to enforce regulations or stipulations in the sense of climate protection? Answer: Yes
    
15. Does your municipality provide information and sensitize citizens to climate protection and renewable energies? Answer: Yes
    
16. Are there one or more currently running municipal support programs for climate protection / energy for actors of the local society? Answer: Yes
    
17. Is your municipality a member of the Climate Alliance, the European Energy Award, the “Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy”, a comparable association or is it a “dena Energy Efficiency Municipality”? (dena: German Energy Agency) Answer: Yes
    
18. Has your municipality received a climate protection award in the last 10 years? Answer: No
    
19. Does your municipality maintain an international municipal climate partnership? Answer: No