Despite resistance from coalition partner ÖVP, the Greens are holding on to the idea of making the climate protection law, which has been almost two years late, become a reality. “We will also drill through this board,” climate spokesman Lukas Hammer said at the request of APA. He urged the ÖVP, who has repeatedly looked negative, to remain faithful to the pact. The Greens want to do without elements from their original design. The People’s Party remains skeptical.
Specifically, it concerns the automatic tax increases planned by Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) as an “emergency brake”, such as the mineral oil tax (MöST), if climate targets are missed. This met with widespread rejection, not just from the ÖVP. Now the Greens want to omit that and strictly follow the line already laid down in the coalition agreement and in the draft resolution on the climate referendum.
Anti-criminal law
Under this law, there should be a law with binding emission reduction paths in line with the Paris climate protection goals, also to avoid the threat of multibillion-dollar fines. The goal is to make the republic climate neutral by 2040, with maximum emissions for each year. Net emissions should be halved by 2030 and net zero should be reached ten years later.
The old law that set greenhouse gas budgets per year expired at the end of 2020. It had been agreed by a red-and-black majority – and according to climate spokesman Hammer, it was “ineffective”. The purpose of the new regulation is to create binding force for the federal and state governments.
ÖVP speaks of “No-Go”
ÖVP climate spokesman Johannes Schmuckenschlager does not want to get involved in such commitments. “Building laws that bind other governments in the future would also be wrong in terms of democracy,” he told the APA. A “no-go” for him is also including climate protection in the constitution. A measure such as the restart of the Mellach coal-fired power station (planned because of the gas shortage) should then lead to a constitutional complaint.
SPÖ wants to support projects
The SPÖ reacted cautiously positively. “We have been waiting for the climate protection law for almost two years, now there are finally the first small steps towards implementation,” environmental spokeswoman Julia Herr read from the speeches: “The SPÖ stands for all negotiations – the law requires a 2/3 majority in Parliament – finished. We finally need to go a little further in the area of climate protection. The Greens and the ÖVP have been inactive for far too long. Mass levies for everyone, in the event that the climate goals are not achieved, are certainly not an issue for the SPÖ.”
WWF: “We’ve had paper tigers long enough”
The environmental organization WWF Austria called for an ambitious climate protection law that should put Austria back on the path of the Paris Agreement. “We’ve had paper tigers long enough. What is needed now is a multi-year law with binding reduction paths so that politicians can finally decide on the necessary measures. That must be the top priority,” WWF climate spokesman Thomas Zehetner said in a broadcast. The continued blockade of an effective climate protection law is not only oblivious to the future, but also hostile to the economy.
Source: Krone
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