Here you'll find the

Brief information on the Ref-NEKP.

Austria must submit a National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP) to the European Commission by the end of the year, containing a list of measures outlining how the prescribed EU target of reducing CO2 emissions by 36 per cent by 2030 can be achieved. As Gottfried Kirchengast, the representative of science on the Climate Protection Committee and head of the Wegener Center, stated at a press conference on Tuesday, even meeting this minimum EU target would require "significant improvements". If this doesn't happen, it'll get costly: taking into account all costs arising from certificate purchases, fossil energy imports, subsidies and climate-related damages, Austria would face an estimated total loss of 35 billion euros between 2021 and 2030.

The researchers argued, however, that Austria should not merely aim for the minimum EU target, but should already be taking steps to meet the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement. "The groundwork for this needs to be laid now," said Kirchengast. The measures taken so far — including the recently presented ÖVP climate protection programme — were "completely inadequate" for this purpose. The researchers therefore developed an alternative "Ref-NEKP", modelled on the climate plan, with which the targets could actually be achieved. Read the full report at: science.orf.at

Further press releases can be found here!

Further information can be found here!