Austria will miss climate targets despite Green government involvement

After a report by the Federal Environment Agency revealed that Austria will fall short of reaching its climate targets, the governing Greens blamed their conservative coalition partner, telling EURACTIV they are often left alone in parliament when it comes to concrete decisions.

On Tuesday, Greenpeace sounded the alarm over the Federal Environment Agency’s recent inventory report, which outlines scenarios based on greenhouse gas development until 2030. The report was sent to the EU Commission in March and needs to be carried out every two years by all EU Member States.

The Austrian government has set itself the goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. However, according to the report, Austria will only be able to reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2050 compared to 1990 and is thus expected to even miss the less ambitious EU targets that aim for carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Chancellor Nehammer only has the next election in mind, but with his limited horizon, he is gambling away our climate future,” said Jasmin Duregger, climate and energy expert at Greenpeace Austria, in a press statement.

However, the Federal Environment Agency had only taken into account all measures that entered into force before 1 January 2022, such as the expansion targets for renewable energies or subsidies for electric cars, as Der Standard reported. For example, the calculation did not include the carbon tax introduced later.

Duregger stressed that “long overdue laws” such as the Renewable Heat Act and the Climate Protection Act must be passed immediately to “start the race to catch up to achieve the climate targets”.

The Green party, in a coalition with Nehammer’s conservative ÖVP since 2019, has tried to shift the blame to their coalition partner.

“Unfortunately, at present, we are often left alone in parliament when it comes to concrete decisions,” Green MP Lukas Hammer told EURACTIV. The Greens would be “fighting for every single measure,” he added.

For a “courageous climate protection policy”, it would be necessary that the “braking and blocking of important projects finally comes to an end”, he stressed, adding that climate protection would “need more than just one party or one minister”.

(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)