Hannover is the capital of the German Federal State of Lower Saxony, created in 1946 and, with around 516,200 inhabitants and an area of about 20,400 hectares, the largest city in the state.

Hannover is home to many higher education providers and an important industrial, trading and services centre. Hannover Exhibition Grounds, the world’s largest trade fair facility, stages leading international fairs such as CeBIT and Hannover Messe every year and hosted the EXPO 2000 World Exposition to celebrate the new millennium. The world’s biggest marksmen’s festival, Schützenfest Hannover, happens here every July.

With its signature of the Aalborg Charter in 1995, the Hannover Call of European Mayors in 2000 and the Aalborg Commitments in 2004 the city has committed itself, like many other municipalities, to policy aims for a resilient future oriented on sustainable development guidelines.

In realising the objectives set out in the Agenda 21, cities and local authorities are assigned a special role: “As the level of governance closest to the people, they play a vital role in educating, mobilizing and responding to the public to promote sustainable development.” (Agenda 21, Chapter 28)

Hannover City Council and Administration works within local government associations and numerous international networks of cities and regions  for good practice transfer, evaluation of the various environmental and sustainability areas and especially for the common cause of supporting sustainable urban development.