Doughnut of the Rhine County of Neuss

The Rhine County of Neuss, located in the west of Germany, is facing a profound structural transformation due to the early phase-out of lignite in the Rhine region. Through innovative projects and industrial development, the region is set to become a model for a climate-neutral, sustainable and competitive industry by 2030 and beyond. In collaboration with the German Institute of Urban Affairs, the county has developed the first Doughnut Data Portrait in Germany. This achievement can be attributed to the county's long history of municipal development policies. As Germany’s first ‘Fairtrade County’, and a partner municipality of Campohermoso (Colombia) and Pavlohrad (Ukraine), the county is actively involved in development cooperation. In light of the growing number of sustainability-related concepts, the Rhine County of Neuss has developed a holistic sustainability strategy based on the SDGs and Doughnut Economics. This strategy is intended to serve as an umbrella strategy for existing concepts and new ideas. 

It was of particular interest how the county performes in comparison to relevant sustainability goals set by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) or higher levels, and to other counties of the same municipal type (urban-like growing counties in Germany). A total of 44 representative indicators backed with high-quality data describe the current status in 15 fields of action. Most of these indicators were derived from the SDG indicators for German municipalities, which are centrally provided in the ‘SDG Portal’. According to the county’s doughnut model, the data is classified into five different categories (or ‘risk zones’). These risk zones range in colour from light blue, indicating the ‘safe operating space’ (defined as ‘more than 10 percent better than the benchmark or target value achieved’), to dark red, indicating the ‘high risk zone’ (defined as ‘more than 100 percent worse than the benchmark or target value’). For instance, indicator No. 18, ‘Greenhouse gas emissions per capita’, is dark red since the county's performance is more than 100 per cent worse than the target value of the North Rhine-Westphalian (NRW) sustainability strategy (8.61 tons per capita in 2020 compared to a target of 4.14 tons per capita in 2050). Some indicators have been greyed out, mainly due to a lack of data.

Selected indicators:

• Air pollution caused by dust particles (PM10)
• Air pollution caused by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) 
• Waste volume
• Material recycling rate
• Nitrogen pollution from agriculture
• New land conversion
• Landscape quality
• Watercourse quality
• Lack of green accessibility
• Settlement load in the floodplain
• Untreated wastewater
• Nitrate in groundwater
• Drinking water consumption per household
• Rental prices
• Living space
• Completed residential buildings without renewable heating energy
• Fossil energy production 
• Greenhouse gas emissions per inhabitant
• Energy consumption of the manufacturing sector
• School dropout rate
• Elementary schools within walking distance from residential neighbourhoods
• Certified facilities for sustainability education
• Certified ‘Schools of the Future’
• Employees dependent on social welfare (‘working poor’)
• Employees in facilities non-certified for corporate environmental management (EMAS)
• Unemployment rate among persons without German citizenship
• Company insolvencies
• Crime rate
• Non-voter rate in local elections
• Non-certified fair-trade schools
• Project partnerships with municipalities of the Global South
• Traffic volume of motorized private transport
• Car density
• Bus stops within walking distance from residential neighbourhoods
• Homelessness
• Recipients of social welfare (SGBII and SGBXII rate)
• Children under 3 years not benefitting from childcare
• Child day care facilities without integrative support
• Children with overweight or obesity
• Conventional farming
• General practitioners’ density
• Limited age diversity among sports clubs’ members
• Proportion of non-fulfilled measures in the ‘sustainable procurement index’
• Proportion of men in management positions in the county administration with the aim of equal representation

Overall, it becomes clear that many aspects of sustainable development in the Rhine County of Neuss are either met on average or target values are achieved. Negative outcomes are evident in the areas of climate protection and adaptation (indicators: greenhouse gas emissions per capita, energy consumption, and watercourse quality), as well as in the area of sustainable procurement by the county administration. However, as with other data portraits, the county’s Doughnut is neither exhaustive nor definitive. As a strong visualisation tool, it provides an initial overview of the region and should be developed further by all relevant stakeholders.