The global climate change and its impacts are, in 2018, a well-understood reality — that is, established factual knowledge. The IPCC report on the 1.5°C target of the Paris climate protection agreement, published at the beginning of October, shows that the unwanted consequences of climate change will intensify more strongly even with a small further rise in temperature than previously expected, and that it makes an enormous difference for hundreds of millions of people whether the temperature increase is capped at 1.5°C or 2°C. The report therefore underlines the more ambitious "Paris ambition", which aims to limit warming to a maximum of 1.5°C. At the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, the increase in global mean temperature is expected to exceed the 1.5°C mark sometime between 2035 and 2045. The time available to prevent this is therefore very short. However, the report also shows that the knowledge and technologies needed to achieve the 1.5°C target are already available. What's needed, though, are far-reaching, rapidly effective and global efforts (transformations) that go well beyond incremental emissions reductions.
On Friday, 7 December 2018, during the World Climate Conference in Katowice, the consultation period for the draft of a national energy and climate plan for Austria also comes to a close. Together with researchers from the CCCA network and the representative of science on the National Climate Protection Committee (NKK), the CCCA board is submitting a statement on the consultation draft of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP).
The full CCCA statement (long version) on the "Draft of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for Austria – Period 2021–2030" can be found here: <link file:5247 download internal link in current>Download
The present draft of the Austrian National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP) unfortunately does not adequately address this urgent need for emissions reductions. The NEKP is oriented towards the EU minimum targets, which are widely acknowledged to need revision. Compared to 2005 emissions, only a 36% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (outside of ETS emissions) by 2030 is being targeted, whereas the Paris Agreement requires at least 50%. Moreover, this 36% reduction cannot, in all likelihood, be achieved with the measures currently envisaged. Some EU member states are pursuing national targets that go significantly beyond the EU minimum targets and reflect precisely such an upward revision. These countries emphasise that the transformation to a near-greenhouse-gas-free and climate-resilient economy and society guarantees future prosperity in a more sustainable and socially equitable way than continuing with traditional approaches.
It would therefore make sense to embed the NEKP within the strategy of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as these goals are directly linked to SDG 7 (Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate). Transformation research has shown that the requirements of individual SDGs are often easier and better achieved when multiple goals are pursued simultaneously. The complexity of pursuing several goals at once opens up additional room for manoeuvre that we really shouldn't pass up.
In light of the enormous challenge posed by climate change, the scientific community has come together to form the climate research network CCCA (Climate Change Centre Austria), in order to support Austria more competently and comprehensively in its efforts to address climate change. Drawing on the latest scientific findings, CCCA has consistently submitted statements on various strategy papers, and has also produced — alongside numerous individual publications — a comprehensive <link https: www.ccca.ac.at de wissenstransfer apcc assessment-reports austrian-assessment-report-2014-aar14 external-link-new-window internal link in current>climate change assessment report (2014), a study on the costs of inaction (<link https: www.ccca.ac.at typo3 coin.ccca.ac.at external-link-new-window internal link in current>Costs of Inaction, 2015), a <link https: www.ccca.ac.at wissenstransfer science-plan external-link-new-window internal link in current>Science Plan (2015), and a special report on climate change, health and demography (<link https: sr18.ccca.ac.at external-link-new-window internal link in current>SR Health, 2018).
The authors of the <link file:5247 download internal link in current>statement see both the necessity and the real opportunity to incorporate these scientific findings even more strongly into the further development of the NEKP. CCCA therefore continues to offer its support in revising the current consultation draft of the NEKP.
Contact: <link>info@ccca.ac.at
