Austria's greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise again in 2019. While the previous government was still celebrating a reduction in 2018 emissions data, there's an increase once more — just as there was in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Austria is now at risk of missing its own targets set out in the Climate Protection Act for 2020.

This also means that the ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gases by 2025 and 2030 will now be even harder to achieve. Austria needs to achieve a reduction of 36 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005 emissions. That said, study author Gottfried Kirchengast, geophysicist at the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, also notes that the new EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans to dramatically increase the EU's climate targets — from the current minus 40 per cent to "50 and perhaps even 55 per cent".

Read the full report at: kurier.at