The main points of the fact sheet summarised briefly:

• Due to increasing globalisation of markets, a growing share of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the consumption of products and services in one country is occurring in other countries and regions of the world.
• The current system for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions at national level is, however, territorially oriented and therefore does not account for the outsourcing of emission-intensive industries.
• Initial results for Austria's consumption-based emissions (or "carbon footprint") show that these are 50–60% above the production-based (territorial) emissions as published by the Environment Agency Austria.
• A comprehensive assessment of progress towards decarbonisation of the Austrian economy must therefore include consumption-based emissions.

The aim of the AG CBA is to facilitate exchange and networking among the various approaches and models for consumption-based greenhouse gas emission accounting for Austria. Bringing the different approaches closer together has only just begun in Austria, and the discussions and presentations at the inaugural workshop held in October 2016 underlined the need for a longer-term phase of coordination and discussion within the working group.

<link internal-link internal link in current>Further information about the working group and opportunities to get involved.