The reference plan "National Energy and Climate Plan for Austria" has been awarded first place in the category Communication and Decision-Making at this year's 7. Sustainability Award 2020.
The "Reference National Energy and Climate Plan for Austria" is led by Gottfried Kirchengast from the Wegener Center at the University of Graz, a team of nine co-authors (including Karl Steininger from the Wegener Center) and around seventy experts (see www.ccca.ac.at/refnekp)
Climate protection and sustainability are also central topics for universities and higher education institutions
Climate Protection Minister Gewessler is pleased about the popularity of the Sustainability Award. Sustainability is a topic for all parts of society. Because climate protection always means engaging with other aspects such as equality, social justice, poverty reduction, and integration. All these topics are addressed by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "Climate protection is a task for society as a whole. And this is precisely where universities and higher education institutions can make a major contribution — in research, but also in the sharing of knowledge," said Gewessler.
The Sustainability Award has been presented since 2008 as an Austria-wide competition for universities, universities of applied sciences, and universities of teacher education, jointly awarded every two years by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) and the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK) for particularly innovative and sustainable higher education projects.
"Ref-NEKP as a Contribution to a Climate-Just Future" — In Conversation with Mathias Kirchner
Mathias Kirchner is the scientific coordinator of the Ref-NEKP. He talks about the contents of the reference plan, the dialogue between climate science and politics in Austria, as well as the pathways for implementation and a look to the future.