A Scorching Verdict for Hildesheim: German Environmental Aid's Red Card Lands in Lower Saxony
Red Card Issued Exclusively to Hildesheim in Northern Heat Check - Scorching in the north: solely Hildesheim receives a red card
Looking for a city blanketed in asphalt, stones, and concrete? German Environmental Aid (DUH) might just point you towards Hildesheim. The organization decries the proliferation of impermeable surfaces in German cities and advocates for legal minimum requirements for greenery. According to DUH's heat check, a staggering 12 million city-dwellers are exposed to extreme heat at home, a grim reality exacerbated by global climate change.
Northern German cities typically escape the brunt of the summer heat. One reason? Their average surface temperature during the summer months is significantly lower than in the southwest. Other factors like surface sealing and vegetation are crucial too. Out of the 190 cities scrutinized, 31 receive a red card, 131 a yellow card, and 28 a green card.
Hamburg, with a green card, beams with pride. Its sealed area quota stands at 41.6%, while the green quotient is a respectable 3.8%. Surprisingly, the summer average surface temperature is only 31.5°C – cooler than both Hildesheim and Mannheim. The former, infamously the only city in Lower Saxony to receive a red card, boasts a scorching average temperature of 36°C. Mannheim, located in Baden-Württemberg, holds the dubious distinction of being the warmest city nationwide in the heat check with a temperature of 38.4°C.
Not all Northern German cities fare as poorly as Hildesheim. Kiel, Flensburg, and Norderstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, as well as Oldenburg, Nordhorn, Wilhelmshaven, and Lingen in Lower Saxony, earn green cards.
Hannover, boasting one of Europe's largest urban forests, snags a yellow card. The city's sealed area share is 46%, while the green share is 3.6%, with the approximately 640-hectare Eilenriede forest being a prominent feature. Cities like Bremen, Bremerhaven, Braunschweig, Göttingen, Wolfsburg, Lüneburg, and Osnabrück land in the middle, also earning yellow cards.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania cities such as Greifswald, Schwerin, Rostock, and Stralsund also receive yellow cards.
- German Environmental Aid e.V.
- Hildesheim
- Green Spaces
- Hamburg
- Lower Saxony
- Germany
- Average Surface Temperature
- Climate Change
- North Germany
- Sealing
- Mannheim
- Schleswig-Holstein
- Hannover
- Urban Heat Island Effects
- Bremen
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- The German city of Hildesheim, infamously receiving a red card from German Environmental Aid (DUH), has an alarming average surface temperature of 36°C, making it the warmest in Lower Saxony.
- While Kiel, Flensburg, and Norderstadt in Schleswig-Holstein, as well as Oldenburg, Nordhorn, Wilhelmshaven, and Lingen in Lower Saxony, earn green cards for their lower average surface temperatures, Hannover lands a yellow card, with a temperature of around 36°C and a prominently green feature like the 640-hectare Eilenriede forest.
- As concerns mount over climate change, science suggests that manufacturing and energy-intensive industries, such as the steel industry, could be significant contributors to the urban heat island effects experienced in cities like Hildesheimer and Mannheim, which both received red cards in DUH's heat check.
