With the National Climate Initiative (NKI), the Federal Environment Ministry has been supporting climate protection projects throughout Germany since June 2008, making a substantial contribution to the achievement of Germany's national climate targets. It addresses municipalities, businesses, consumers and civil society actors alike. Its objectives reach beyond greenhouse gas reduction: through advice and awareness-raising as well as investment grants and model projects, the NKI seeks to overcome barriers, encourage climate-friendly behaviour and innovation, and thereby strengthen the transformation towards a climate-friendly society. The NKI currently comprises six funding directives and calls, four of which are actively running.

This project provides scientific support for the NKI funding portfolio and the further development of its funding programmes over the period 2026 to 2030, against the backdrop of tightening public budgets and growing questions around public acceptance of ambitious climate action. Specific tasks ahead include the revision of the Municipal Directive (Kommunalrichtlinie), which expires at the end of 2027, the merging of the two funding calls for model solutions, and support for the new funding call for pioneering municipalities working towards a greenhouse gas neutral municipal administration. The contract takes the form of a framework agreement, with individual services called off as needed. The consortium consists of ifeu (lead), Öko-Institut, Fraunhofer ISI, Prognos, IREES, Ecologic Institute and Prof. Dr. Klinski.

The project comprises four work packages:

1. Overarching support and analysis: The consortium addresses strategic questions on the further development of the NKI, including its positioning relative to other federal funding schemes, the identification of new areas of potential, and the design of structural funding approaches such as municipal climate funds.
2. Strategic and information-based funding approaches: Non-investment funding priorities are developed and refined from initial ideas through to detailed elaboration, particularly within the Kommunalrichtlinie and the federal funding programme for transformative climate protection projects. 
3. Investment-based funding approaches: Existing investment priorities are reviewed for relevance and fit, new eligible measures identified, and the results translated into directive texts and technical annexes.
4. Ad-hoc services: Short-notice requests are handled, and networking meetings for grant recipients are designed, facilitated and documented.

Methodologically, the consortium draws on analyses of the funding landscape and policy environment, a screening of climate funding in other EU member states, municipal surveys, stakeholder dialogues and expert interviews, creative formats such as co-creation workshops and backcasting, and ex-ante impact assessments. Each funding approach passes through a defined sequence: needs analysis, review of existing evaluation findings, an outline concept with an initial legal assessment, and detailed elaboration. Legal review under German grant and budget law and EU state aid law accompanies all work packages.

Ecologic Institute is involved in all work packages, contributing its expertise in particular on municipal decision-making and implementation processes and on questions of funding and state aid law.