Projects such as the construction of roads or cycle paths, commercial and residential areas as well as daycare centers and schools repeatedly result in areas being sealed or natural habitats being lost due to disturbance. The city of Wolfsburg also monitors a number of compensation projects every year, implements them and then provides information about them in a report. In the event of losses and impairments caused by actions and projects that cannot be further mitigated on site, the polluter is legally obliged to provide compensation and replacement to offset negative effects on the environment.

The city's Green Division oversaw a total of 34 planning procedures in the period between May 2023 and February 2024. Compensation projects with a total area of 41.93 hectares are currently in the implementation planning stage. These include areas to replace the Krummer Morgen development area in Heiligendorf and the Innere Ortslage in Wendschott. The development period of the compensation depends on the source or target biotope and can take several years. It is important that the measures are maintained in the long term. In total, the Green Division is responsible for around 495 hectares of established compensation measures, of which 396 hectares have already been implemented.

The compensation measures should primarily take effect in the immediate vicinity and are therefore largely located in the same natural area not far from the impact site. Areas are selected where there is a need for nature conservation enhancement. The various projects are spread across the entire urban area. The aim is to create a network between the individual projects. This applies in part to areas along streams and rivers or a kind of belt along the city boundary, but also to so-called stepping stone biotopes distributed over a wide area.

Impaired or destroyed biotopes are primarily functionally compensated, i.e. restored as similarly as possible. This means that new trees are planted where possible to replace felled trees or that open land biotopes such as meadows are developed again.
However, the Federal Nature Conservation Act places compensation and replacement on an equal footing and allows interventions to be equally compensated. This means that a cleared hedge could legally be replaced by a species-rich meadow. However, the city also takes into account the animal species that were previously present on the land. The city therefore prioritizes compensation so that they find suitable habitats again.

However, if legally protected biotopes or habitats of particularly strictly protected animal species are used, the compensation must be carried out in the same way and also before the intervention.
Skylarks are often affected by the development of arable land, such as in the Sonnenkamp development area. In cooperation with the Kulturlandpflege foundation and local farmers, high-quality habitats for skylarks were created in Nordsteimke by establishing flowering and fallow areas as well as extensive cereal areas before construction began. Annual checks show that the new areas are very well accepted by the animals.

Species protection measures are as varied as the requirements of the different animals. One classic measure is the installation of boxes for birds and bats. Around 400 bird and bat boxes have been installed throughout the city to replace original roosts. These will soon be provided with QR codes, which will allow more information to be viewed. However, sections of tree trunks that had to make way for development have already been moved, as animals often accept natural tree cavities better than artificial replacements.