Fighting the climate crisis

Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 6.4 percent

Greenhouse gases are trace gases that contribute to a planet's greenhouse effect.

(Bild: dpa, krone.at-Grafik)

According to the "Nowcast" forecast, greenhouse gas emissions in Austria will have fallen by 6.4 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) proudly announced on Thursday: "You can see the effectiveness of the climate protection policy of the past four years."

"Austria is on the way to achieving climate neutrality by 2040. The calculations of the Federal Environment Agency prove this: Courageous climate policy is working. The expansion of renewable energy is running at full speed, green electricity records, renovation offensive and climate ticket and much more are ensuring that our emissions continue to fall," says Gewessler.

"This corresponds to a decrease of 4.7 million tons of CO2, which equates to emissions of 68.2 million tons, the lowest figure since 1990," Gewessler noted. Overall, the calculations of the Federal Environment Agency's near-term forecast produced very pleasing results, which were even clearer than in the first estimate from March. In the past two years, greenhouse gas emissions have therefore fallen by a total of 11.9 percent. "You can see the effectiveness of the climate protection policy of the past four years," Gewessler said with conviction.

Expansion of renewables very effective
The expansion of renewables in particular is only causing emissions to melt away to the extent that house refurbishment and façade insulation are also making a contribution - and the decline in emissions is evident in all sectors. If we continue in this way, we can win the battle against the climate crisis - heat, storms and melting glaciers will show that this is necessary.

Günther Lichtblau from the Federal Environment Agency reported that there has been a significant decrease in natural gas, heating oil and emissions trading. This is the result of the move away from fossil fuels. The climate expert emphasized the importance of the mobility sector for achieving the climate targets: "At 19.8 million tons, transport accounts for the largest share of Austrian greenhouse gas emissions and 45 percent of the KSG sectors without emissions trading". Nevertheless, there was a reduction of 3.8 percent, which can be explained, among other things, by a decline in fuel tourism and the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine - "without these price signals, this development would not have occurred." According to Gewessler, the "combination of CO2 pricing and investments in public transport, including 300,000 climate ticket users such as the subsidized e-mobility" is also responsible for the shift.

Austria performs very well in comparison
However, the strongest decreases in KSG sectors were seen in the building sector, at around minus 20 percent; although there was a small influence here from the decline in heating days, Lichtblau said, the main triggers were the switch to renewable energies and thermal insulation. The country has been on the EU's ESR target path for two years, which is "all in all a very interesting development", Lichtblau concluded.

In an international comparison since 2020, Austria has done very well, if you take Germany as a reference, for example, which is having difficulties with its climate targets - and this is how some countries in the EU are doing, even if many Nordic countries are also doing well, said Lichtblau. "And this must continue. We will continue to need a wide range of measures in all sectors," Gewessler added.