To slow down global climate change, mitigate its impacts, and shape a sustainable future for young and future generations, international coordination as well as comprehensive national implementation plans for climate action are essential. Against this backdrop, the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), following consultation with the relevant other Austrian federal ministries, presented the draft of an integrated national energy and climate plan (NEKP) for Austria (period 2021–2030) at the end of June 2023. This draft was open for comment during summer 2023 to ensure broad participation from public and private institutions and individuals. We welcome this participatory approach, which can contribute to effective and widely accepted climate policy.
As part of the project "National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP) for Austria – Scientific Assessment of the Measures Proposed in the 2023 Consultation", a team from the broader scientific community, coordinated by the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA), is engaged in evaluating the measures proposed during the public consultation on the NEKP.
The aim of the project was to estimate and contextualise the potential of additional measures for greenhouse gas reduction by 2030 that are not yet included in the draft NEKP – quantitatively represented in the With Existing Measures (WEM) and, in particular, the With Additional Measures (WAM) scenarios of the Environment Agency Austria (UBA).
Watch the press conference from Wednesday, 28 February, at the Presseclub Concordia, at which the project was presented.
The following speakers were available in person:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Steininger (Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz)
Em.O.Univ.Prof. Dr. Helga Kromp-Kolb (Austrian meteorologist and climate researcher)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sigrid Stagl (Institute for Ecological Economics, WU Vienna)
Joining online:
Dr. techn. Dipl.-Ing. Keywan Riahi (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gottfried Kirchengast (Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, scientific representative on the National Climate Protection Committee NKK)
Listen to Karl Steininger from the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change at the University of Graz on the Ö1 Mittagsjournal!
And here you'll find the press reports from various media outlets!
