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Austria improved on the Climate Protection Index but continues to underperform. Minister Gewessler: “We cannot be satisfied with this result.”
2:59 pm, December 7, 2020
The CCPI climate protection index of three NGOs has again in 2020 Sweden as the winner and with the US in last place also last year’s last place. Greta Thunberg’s house is in front for the third time in a row. But that does not mean the first place, because the “podium places” were again vacant: no state is exemplary enough when it comes to climate protection. Austria improved from position 38 to 35, comes from the ranking published on Monday.
“We cannot be satisfied with this result,” he continued. Minister of Environment and Transport Leonore Gewessler (Greens) In a statement to the APA, it was claimed that the race to catch up on climate policy was beginning and that a record budget for climate protection had already been secured. “We are imposing higher taxes on consumers of environmentally harmful fuel and promoting clean electric cars. And we started the energy transition law. But we will not rest on that. In 2021 we will start with the 1-2-3 climate ticket. We will take the next steps on the road to the green tax system, ”said the minister. In terms of traffic, it is important to strengthen public transport and help electric mobility make a breakthrough.
Missing action
According to Global 2000, the deeds are still missing: Austria remains one of the “underperforming countries” and the NGO’s climate and energy spokesperson, Johannes Wahlmüller, still sees a lot to do on climate policy: “Although there are more climate protection projects in the current government program than ever, but most of it has yet to be implemented. A clear implementation schedule and progress on the eco-social tax reform are absolutely necessary. Only in this way will Austria be able to quickly catch up with the best international countries in climate protection. “
The reasons for Austria’s position are the result of several “construction sites” that WWF’s climate and energy spokesman Karl Schellmann lists, namely the “Too high energy consumption through self-centered transportation policy to misaligned tax system. In addition, there is the high level of urban expansion and the extreme consumption of land of an average of 13 hectares per day ”, he cites a factor that has been neglected to date.
Greenpeace climate expert Adam Pawloff gave Austria’s ranking “shameful”. Yet Pawloff is already looking ahead, specifically at the EU Council summit, which is supposed to set the EU’s climate targets this week: “That will show if the federal government will finally turn its big words into action. Austria is committed to promoting an ambitious climate policy in Europe. This includes working for the strongest climate goal possible. For the EU this means By 2030, we need a 65 percent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to 1990 to achieve the 1.5 degree target. At the same time, the loopholes that would lead to a weakening of climate protection efforts must be closed; Austria’s position here is simply inadequate today. ” Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is “responsible” in this regard.
It has yet to be answered whether the summit will bring the expected great progress in climate policy: not all 27 states still support the EU Commission’s proposal to Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. Poland and other Central European countries that rely heavily on coal have reserves and are demanding financial help.
US “disastrous performance”
Neighboring Germany has taken four places on the climate protection index and is now 19th – but still behind countries like India, Chile and Morocco. The overall rating remains only “mediocre,” as the authors of the Germanwatch Climate Protection Index, the Climate Action Network (CAN) and the New Climate Institute announced on Monday. The organizations called the US performance “disastrous”: At the end of President Donald Trump’s term, they are at the bottom of the list of 57 countries and the EU for the second time in a row, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Sweden remains the leader, followed by Great Britain, Denmark, Morocco, Norway and Chile. The authors also see encouraging signs. This could peak in global carbon dioxide emissions, they said. The index still analyzes emissions before the start of the corona pandemic, so it does not show a distorted picture. Accordingly, emissions increased only very slightly overall; they fell in more than half of the countries surveyed.
The EU is improving
While the Scandinavian states of the EU, Portugal and the EU itself with very good marks can be found in the upper region, there are Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Cyprus also lowered the outliers. Jan Burck of Germanwatch, one of the main authors, demanded that the EU should make its reconstruction after the Crown crisis as green and sustainable as possible.
In the overall ranking, the EU was able to improve by six places to 16th place, however, almost exclusively thanks to a much better rated climate policy. “So there are some advanced laurels in the location “, Burck said. This Saturday there will be an online conference of the United Nations and the British government, instead of the UN world climate summit postponed until 2021 due to the crown. The annual conference should have met in November in Glasgow, Scotland.
