LogMob – Impact assessment of an integrated logistics and mobility concept for the German Protestant Church Congress

In the LogMob research project, the implementation of an integrated mobility and logistics concept for major events is being studied taking the German Protestant Church Congress (DEKT) as an example. The aim is to estimate the effects of this concept, particularly regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and also in order to examine the transferability to other major events.

Research approach

An integrated logistics and mobility concept consisting of around 40 measures was developed for the 38th German Protestant Church Congress, which will take place in Nuremberg in June 2023. It includes the well-established areas of action for sustainable mobility “avoid traffic, shift traffic and handle traffic in a compatible way”. These measures will be tested by the organizer for their feasibility and implemented for the mobility of visitors, full-time and voluntary staff and speakers as well as for the transport of goods. The ISOE research team is charged with the development of an evaluation concept for the measures to be implemented and with the implementation process. During and after implementation, the measures will be evaluated on the basis of indicators developed by the research team. On the one hand, the savings of greenhouse gas emissions in the logistics and mobility sector will be estimated, and on the other hand, the impact potential and acceptance of the measures will be examined The analysis provides indications for a long-term application at the Church Congress as well as for the transferability of the developed measures and the subsequent effects to other major events.

Background

The German Protestant Church Congress is held every two years in a different major German city. It is a large event with around 100,000 visitors. The individual program activities like lectures, discussions, exhibitions, music events, and church services are spread across the entire city at different venues. A special feature of the Church Congress is that all of the event management is supported by hundreds of volunteers during the event that lasts for almost an entire week.

As early as 1981, the German Protestant Church Congress tested an admission ticket that included the use of public transport. Today, such combined tickets are offered at countless major events throughout Germany. At the 38th German Protestant Church Congress, a further step towards sustainable mobility in the context of major events will be taken by trying out an integrated mobility concept. This concept will be implemented in cooperation with the mobility consulting agency EcoLibro. The project LogMob is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of the National Climate Initiative. So far, approaches towards integrated mobility management have tended to be applied at the municipal, regional or company level, but not for major events. But particularly for large events, there is great potential for saving greenhouse gas emissions in terms of traffic pollution, in logistics on-site, in the run-up to the event, as well as in passenger mobility. These are to be identified and exploited with the measures developed in the project in order to make a contribution to achieving the climate protection goals of the federal government.