Austrian Climate Policy: The
Opportunity of Failure
Stefan Schleicher, Kurt Kratena
Summary:
Austrian climate policy is characterized by rather
ambitious targets whose implementation, however, is not visible
in the data of emitted greenhouse gases. With the accords
of the UN climate conferences of Kyoto, Bonn, and Marrakech,
a new situation has occurred: With the USA having left the
Kyoto Protocol at least for the time being the EU has taken
the role of a leader in global climate policy. This means,
that the EU will push a quick ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
and carefully watch the commitment of the member countries
in fulfilling the common reduction target. Thus Austria’s
climate policy that so far has failed to bridge the gap between
ambitions and reality will get a new chance: In the same manner
as the EU is embedding climate policy into a comprehensive
reform package with the emphasis on energy
and transport, Austria could link its climate policy to an
innovative economic program for sustainable development.
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(german)
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What we know about climate change
Helga Kromp-Kolb
Summary:
Meteorological data and observations of nature
show that the climate is changing. To the best of our knowledge,
i.e. according to the most ad-vanced climate models, these
changes can be largely explained by the anthropogenic influence
on the atmospheric composition. Model simulations of future
developments still contain large uncertainties, but are consistent
in expecting global warming and an increase in the frequency
of extreme events. The alpine region appears to be more vulnerable
than others in Europe because the climate changes could be
more extensive here and because the affected systems are more
sensitive.
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Housing and Mobility:
Positive Energy Houses and Decilitre Cars
Reinhold W. Lang, Stefan Schleicher
Summary:
The direction of technological innovations is
ulti-mately determined by the demands put by producers and
consumers to technologies. Housing and mobility are examples,
how a deliberate orientation for better services in these
areas could stimulate considerable welfare effects.
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(german)
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Austrian Reduction Targets for Greenhouse
Gas Emissions
from Toronto to Kyoto
Albert E. Hackl
Summary:
The Austrian climate change policy suffers from
the problem that it has agreed to meet ambitious targets but
has done little to implement measures enabling it to achieve
those targets. This holds true for the Toronto target, for
the goals agreed upon before the Kyoto-conference, as well
as for the Kyoto- target itself.
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(german)
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Austrian Climate Change Policy:
Ambitious Targets but Lack of Credibility
Michael Lohmeyer
Summary:
Over the past ten years Austria has acquired a
re-putation for aiming at fairly ambitious targets for
climate change policies but lacks the credibility of meeting
them. Facing still increasing Greenhouse-
gas- emissions the Austrian Government has arrived at a crossroad:
Will it be able to escape the
credibility gap of the past?
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(german)
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The impulse program of the Ministry
of Environment for active climate protection.
