The climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh came to a disappointing end on Sunday despite an extended extension. One of the few results after two weeks of negotiations was sticking to the 1.5 degree target. The Climate Change Center Austria has calculated how much greenhouse gases Austria can still emit without exceeding the upper limit due to the remaining global greenhouse gas budget: it is 280 million tons, which will last just until mid-2025 – with unchanged emissions …
Specifically, the 280 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent mentioned is the remaining greenhouse gas (GHG) budget for Austria from the beginning of 2022 for a 66 percent chance of meeting the target of 1.5 gad (with no intermediate temperature increase), which has already been set agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement. If this amount is used up, Austria’s GHG budget will be exhausted. The Climate Change Center Austria reminds that the government’s plan would actually be to reduce emissions in Austria to “net zero” only by 2040.
Austria “needs to think”
“Just as Austria needs to think about how to manage the available resources financially, it also needs to think about greenhouse gas emissions. Emitting more than we are entitled to means we are indebted to other countries and future generations,” said Thomas Schinko, co-author of the scientific background paper on the calculations.
“It’s about the future of entire generations”
According to this, there would still be 610 tonnes of CO2 equivalents left if one were satisfied with a 50 percent probability, which according to the forecast models would be associated with a slightly higher temperature in the meantime. The remaining GHG amounts refer to the calculations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to which the remaining global CO2 budget in 2018 was 420 gigatons of CO2 (66 percent chance of meeting the target).
“The greater the chance that the target will be achieved, the smaller the available greenhouse gas budget. Understandably, young people demand a greater than 50 percent chance of meeting the plus 1.5 degree limit. This is about the future of entire generations,” says Karl Steininger (University of Graz), also a co-author.
According to Greenpeace, the latest scientific calculations would show that we are racing full throttle towards climate catastrophe: “Politicians must now start the engine for climate protection. For the ÖVP, this means an end to blocking the law on climate protection and energy efficiency. The federal states are also being asked. In Lower Austria, for example, the fracking fantasy must be buried once and for all,” said Adam Pawloff, program director of the NGO in Austria.
Source: Krone
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