Fridays For Future (FFF) activists will take to the streets on Friday for the energy transition. In the course of the global climate strikes, in demonstrations in seven cities across Austria, they are demanding the expansion of renewable energy, a climate protection law and basic energy security – because: “We are in a fossil energy crisis that we can only get away with radical climate protection,” activist Klara König said on Tuesday.
The climate and energy crises are closely linked. “Nothing fights energy poverty as sustainably as renewable energy. Nothing makes us more independent from cruel autocrats,” König emphasized, referring to the war in Ukraine. Basic energy security must ensure that a certain amount of energy is available for free and that the price rises moderately at first and then gradually increases. This would also motivate people to save energy.
Fridays For Future calls on the ÖVP to end the “blockade” of the climate protection law. The fact that this is not absolutely necessary for Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) for climate protection, König considers “pure crisis ignorance”. She also called on the Greens not to let time pass.
“Disastrous fossil system”
Last summer it turned out that it was time for action, the activist said at the press conference on the dried up Zicksee in Burgenland. While the Zicksee, like the entire Seewinkel, struggles with drought, floods and wind gusts in Vorarlberg, paralyzed train services and deaths in storms in several states – fueled by a “disastrous fossil system”.
About two-thirds of energy consumption still comes from imported fossil resources, explains Daniel Huppmann, a climate and energy researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). “It is up to policy makers to change structures so that climate-friendly living is possible and easy,” he said. Martin Schenk, deputy director of Diakonie Austria, emphasized that the number of heat-related deaths has been high since 2013, at around 4,000, and will continue to rise.
In Vienna, there is a demonstration on Friday from 1 p.m. (see graph). Further demonstrations will take place in Graz, Salzburg, Linz, St. Pölten, Klagenfurt and Innsbruck. In the affected cities, there will also be corresponding traffic obstructions in the area of the demo routes.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
