Funded by the National Climate Initiative (NKI in German) of the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU), the second working meeting of the scientific support for the municipalities in the project "Master Plan for 100% Climate Change Mitigation" was held on 7 and 8 February 2013 in Hanover.

The 19 "Master Plan Municipalities" commit to particularly ambitious climate protection targets, such as the reduction of their final energy demand by 50% and their greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by 2050. The four-year sponsorship of the exemplary municipalities - started in May 2012 - is of particular interest for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU): exceeding the national target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95 % (compared to 1990) by 2050, it is especially the municipalities that can make a major contribution to emission savings from their proximity to the consumer or to buildings needing to be renovated.

The Master Plan Municipality Hanover hosted the second Workgroup Meeting and offered in the "House of the Hanover region" a framework for the development of new knowledge and professional exchange. The event, which was attended by representatives of the BMU and scientific researchers in addition to the Master Plan Municipalities, opened with a dinner and covered a wide range of local climate change concerns in several thematic blocks on the following day. First, the participants were introduced to possibilities of standardization and options in the field of the accounting through a lecture. Following this, one of the three parallel working groups provided a platform for intensive exchange about unresolved accounting issues. The two other working groups dealt respectively with the aspects of organizational structures and the content dimension of the "Master Plan" concept. At the end of the event, reflection exercise were carried out regarding the Climate Protection Dialogue to determine which of the four dimensions (Individual - Culture - Relationships - System/Structures) participants found most important for the long-term goal of CO2-neutral municipalities.