We don't yet know the EU Commission's opinion on the draft Austrian National Energy and Climate Plan (NEKP), but if it doesn't contain any new scientific findings that give the all-clear — and that's what we'd expect — then the previous critical statements from the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) and Scientists for Future remain fully valid in terms of content.

The benchmark for science is nature, not politics. The requirements of nature are reasonably reflected in the 1.5°C target of the Paris Climate Agreement. It's this target that we're using to guide the reference plan* for a National Energy and Climate Plan that's currently being developed. Unfortunately, the EU's targets for 2030 don't meet these requirements, and the Austrian NEKP will in all likelihood not even be sufficient to meet the EU targets.

* As part of the UniNEtZ project, which looks at the implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Austria, a reference plan for a NEKP is being developed as an SDG 13 ("Climate Action") activity. On the one hand, it aims to show that Austria can make its contribution to achieving the 1.5°C target, and on the other, it should allow all interested parties to measure the official NEKP against what's actually needed.

Statement by the CCCA working group as a SDG13 activity in the UniNEtZ project on the reference NEKP
(Steering Committee: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gottfried Kirchengast, Em.O.Univ.Prof. Dr.phil. Helga Kromp-Kolb, Univ.Prof.Dr. Sigrid Stagl, Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.rer.soc.oec. Karl Steininger)

Statement as PDF here.

Where does Austria currently stand in the context of EU countries?