Scoping Process

Background Information

CCCA is working to capture the topic of "climate change" in all its facets through a multi-stage, thematically open process and to reflect this in the planned AAR24. The intention is not to adopt the structure of the AAR14 and simply update the content; rather, there is a consensus that a less sectoral approach would be desirable. To this end, the scoping process will be divided into three phases — initially to gather ideas from the scientific community on the basic structure, then to capture the needs of the general public and stakeholders and to assess whether these are compatible with the proposed basic structure. This will be followed by regional workshops, in which scientists can contribute their specialist nuances and review the structures and priorities established beforehand. A rolling approach ensures that this process continually adapts to the input of subject-matter experts.

The aim is to define a content structure for the AAR24 over the coming months that, alongside the highest level of scientific expertise, also incorporates the component of knowledge transfer and creates a narrative that makes the AAR24 attractive and useful for a broad audience, whilst at the same time supporting the scientists involved in broadening their horizons beyond their own fields. 

In total, 3 workshops with scientists and 3 workshops with stakeholders took place in autumn 2020.

Framework Conditions

…AAR24 should NOT become a jumble like AAR14

…a balancing act between everyone contributing or just a few doing it….

…..the assessment report could be made "more dynamic" and updated annually. That would be innovative, resource-efficient, no lagging behind….

….Integration of international research status/progress à no "research island AT"

….AAR24 should not be nation-state focused, but comparable or transferable to other regional situations

…AAR should show Austria as part of a global system, with the appropriate connection between actions and effects

…..Report in English with German summaries

In general, the assessment report should – in a compact, clear and 'distilled' way – reflect the state of affairs in AT and serve as a resource; as well as being fresh, current and innovative ›The full report doesn't necessarily need to be printed, but the summary does (…the report should be sitting on decision-makers' desks…)

There should additionally be an appealing format for the 'report' and the 'distillate' available online, e.g.

• As interactive story maps/maps,
• As a short report, well structured and formatted,
• As short videos ›As a collection of ppts for free, further use,
• As a collection of 'fact sheets',
• The target audience here is a broad range: administration, politics, interested public, NGOs, schools, etc.

The Commissioning Parties^,

KNOWING that the vast majority of national governments, including Austria, have acknowledged climate change and its causes in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed on 9 May 1992, and have committed to preventing climate change:

UNFCCC, Article 2: The ultimate objective of this Convention and any related legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may adopt is to achieve, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. (https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/conveng.pdf)

KNOWING that the UNFCCC signatory states, including Austria, signed and subsequently ratified the following agreement at their COP 21 in Paris in December 2015,

Article 2.1. a: Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement)

UNDERSTANDING that the climate issue can therefore no longer be viewed in isolation, but must be addressed in the context of and together with the other sustainable development goals, ›

ACKNOWLEDGING that ALL CLIMATE TARGETS have so far been missed, or that the timelines necessary to achieve them have not been met,

ACKNOWLEDGING that climate change, with its many knock-on effects, has by now become a reality,

ACKNOWLEDGING that the planned measures to achieve the targets are no longer sufficient and are now only useful to a limited extent and only after adjustment,

UNDERSTANDING that the ongoing climate change threatens the entire Earth system with all its subsystems (e.g. Earth system, ecosystems, social systems, political systems, economic systems) and represents a massive societal challenge,

UNDERSTANDING that climate change has already progressed to such an extent and, due to the delayed effects of measures, will continue to progress further, that both regional and local negative knock-on effects as well as the influence of global changes are and will be so significant in Austria that powerful emissions reduction and adaptation strategies must come into force without delay, ›

UNDERSTANDING that some subsystems are close to tipping and that the global climate system becomes unstable at warming above +1.5°C and especially above +2°C, ›

UNDERSTANDING that to achieve the Paris targets (below +1.5°C and +2°C) only a very small and ever-shrinking window of time remains and that massive and far-reaching measures are necessary, and ›

UNDERSTANDING that continued global warming is accompanied by non-linear developments in the climate system, as well as in ecological, social and economic systems, which can lead to disruptive collapse,

whilst at the same time CONVINCED that climate protection measures, carefully and far-sightedly chosen and implemented, can lead to greater quality of life for individuals, greater equity within the country and between nations, and thereby also to peace, and

TRUSTING that, with decisive action in line with the IPCC's 1.5°C report, it is not yet too late to stabilise the global climate, and

KNOWING that emissions reductions in Austria alone have little significance for the global climate, but that Austria has already demonstrated in other matters that it can achieve global impact through leading by example and through the diplomatic pursuit of goals recognised as correct, such as the protection of the ozone layer or nuclear disarmament,

hereby commission

the relevant Austrian researchers, within the framework of an assessment report, to support the Republic of Austria in its efforts to do everything within its power to

make the best possible contribution to global climate protection,

in doing so, to make use of synergies with other sustainable development goals, to resolve contradictions as effectively as possible, and to take into account Austria's embeddedness in the EU as well as the global context,

to prepare as well as possible for unavoidable climate changes (committed) and their consequences, as well as possible scenarios (projected),

to identify and analyse particularly vulnerable and resilient areas (ecological, social and economic) at different scales (local, regional and under external influence) in Austria, and

to identify transformation pathways that enable Austria to make its contribution to achieving the Paris climate targets.

In this context, dealing with climate change is to be understood as an essential component of the socio-ecological transformation process that Austria and the whole world must have undergone by the middle of the 21st century. In this sense, all measures relating to climate protection and climate change adaptation that are to be developed in this assessment report should be viewed within a whole-systems context, whose possible development pathways are currently defined by the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.