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The corona crisis reduced the economy, leading to a decrease in CO2 emissions.
© APA (subject)
Measures taken in the wake of the crown pandemic and the resulting restrictions on economic life will lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions of 7.1 percent in Austria this year. Economists at the Wifo economic research institute predict this with the help of a new tool, it said in a broadcast Sunday.
This decrease in greenhouse gas emissions is the direct result of the change in value added that will decrease in almost all industries, the resulting decrease in GDP was estimated in an April Wifo forecast of 5.2 percent, in a most pessimistic scenario that could 7.5 percent. Given that the level of CO2 emissions is also influenced by factors such as the number of days that warming takes place, the aforementioned decrease cannot be understood as a forecast of the greenhouse gas inventory for 2020.
Austria’s economy is closely intertwined with the use of fossil raw materials.
In the latest inventory of greenhouse gases, the Federal Environment Agency found that 79 million greenhouse gases (GHGs) were emitted in Austria in 2018. That was 0.7 percent more than in 1990. In Austria Almost 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are the result of power generation. Data recently released by Eurostat shows an increase in CO2 emissions of 2.8 percent in 2019 as a result of increased energy use compared to 2018.
According to Eurostat’s first estimates for 2019, total climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions in the EU decreased by 4.3 percent. The opposite trend was registered for Austria: In this country, CO2 emissions are expected to increase 2.8 percent compared to 2018, as announced by the European statistical authority on Wednesday.
Since the Austrian economy is still closely intertwined with the use of fossil raw materials, the expected 3.5 percent rebound for 2021 after a reduction in 2020 compared to 2019 will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions again, Wifo wrote. Emissions increased 5.5 percent ten years ago after a 7.6 percent drop in 2009 compared to 2008.
CO2 forecast for the year Corona 2020
The forecast for 2020 is based on a new model based on inputs and products called ALICE, whose main objective is to assess the climate impact of economic policy measures. Wifo economists Mark Sommer, Franz Sinabell and Gerhard Streicher developed it. The tool is intended to help decision-makers identify measures that align Austria on a path of economic development that enables decoupling of fossil raw materials and energy sources. In 1990, 317 tons of GHG greenhouse gases were emitted per million of GDP, in 2018 it was a third less, that is, 211 tons. According to Wifo, the transformation started. However, decoupling and completely avoiding fossil materials requires more effort.
Information on expected emission reductions relates to GHG emissions published by the United Nations Climate Secretariat UNFCCC (2020) (“Submission 2020 v2”), namely “Total CO2 equivalent emissions without use of the land, land use change and forestry. ” Credits for land use, changes in land use and forest growth are excluded, as are emissions from international air and maritime traffic and biomass combustion.
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