On climate protection

Companies call for a “reliable framework”

A hydropower plant operated by Energie AG

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

Shortly before the end of the UN Climate Change Conference, Austrian businesses made their voices heard in an open letter on Friday. In it, 126 Austrian companies call for a "reliable political framework" in terms of climate protection.

The letter was written by Spar and Wien Energie, among others, with the help of the environmental organizations WWF and Global 2000, and contains five points that should be included in a future government program, including, for example, a secure climate budget. Other demands include a "climate-friendly reform of the tax system", an "energy saving program" and the "nature-friendly" expansion of renewable energies. 

EU sustainability guidelines should be implemented more quickly at national level. In order to secure skilled climate workers, the companies are proposing a "sufficiently endowed climate labor market fund" at the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS). In addition, climate neutrality should be enshrined in law by 2040 and a "binding path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions" should be included in the next government program.

A hydropower plant operated by Energie AG

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

Gewessler: "There must be no regression"
Negotiations at the UN Climate Change Conference officially went into extra time on Friday in Baku (see video above). "We are not finished yet. And I say that because it is extremely important, especially this year, that this presidency stays on course in stormy times," said Austria's Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens).

Progress had been made with the new and revised draft resolutions of the Azerbaijani Presidency. The road to the goal was rocky, as there were still many open points in the drafts. The main sticking point for the negotiators from the almost 200 signatory states is the proposal to increase the annual payments for climate change mitigation and adaptation to 250 billion US dollars (equivalent to 240 billion euros) from 2026 to 2035. This is well below the 1.3 trillion US dollars per year that poorer countries want.

We are not finished yet. That is an ambitious sum, but probably also an achievable one.

Klimaschutzministerin Leonore Gewessler ist noch zuversichtlich.

"It's an ambitious sum, but probably achievable," Gewessler said confidently on Friday. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions must be "kept on track". "We must not take a step back now." At the climate conference in Dubai last year, the phase-out of fossil fuels was agreed for the first time.