Austria does not want to go along with the climate protection declaration – because of the lack of nuclear power exclusion

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  1. Austria does not go along with climate protection declaration – because of missing nuclear power exclusion
    Thousands demonstrate in Glasgow for more speed in climate protection, NGOs draw cautious mid-term balance. The most important climate updates of the day at a glance

    November 5, 2021, 15:47 872 posts.
    The most important in a nutshell:

    Tens of thousands of protesters demonstrate in Glasgow on Youth and Public Empowerment Day at the climate conference. They are calling for greater compliance with the Paris climate agreement.
    Climate activists drew a subdued mid-term conclusion to the climate conference. Environmental NGOs express satisfaction with conservation pledges but call for more financial aid for developing countries.
    Austria is not going along with a declaration by the so-called High Ambition Coalition calling for more ambitious climate protection. The reason for this is allegedly that nuclear energy is not explicitly excluded.
    Environmental researcher Adil Najam warns that two degrees of global warming could turn billions of people into refugees
    The super-rich live large, also in terms of climate: According to a study by the NGO Oxfam, the richest one percent is responsible for about 16 percent of emissions worldwide.
    Tens of thousands expected at demo with Greta Thunberg
    Less than a week after the start of the World Climate Conference, thousands of people have demonstrated in Glasgow for more speed in climate protection. In chants on Friday, the participants demanded a “system change” and more climate justice – especially for poorer countries. Slogans such as “Capitalism kills the planet”, “Act now!” or “The dinosaurs also thought they had time” could be read on placards.

    After a march through the city center, the founder of the climate protection movement Fridays for Future, the Swede Greta Thunberg, was to give a speech in George Square in the afternoon (around 3 p.m.). Expressing solidarity with the protesters, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said. “To everyone in the halls of COP26: now is the time to listen and act,” he wrote on Twitter.

    The next demonstration in Glasgow follows immediately on Saturday, which organizers expect to attract even more than 100,000 people. Here, too, Thunberg, Nakate and the Scottish rapper Loki will speak. Also taking part are farmers, trade unions, religious groups, anti-racist activists, indigenous groups and local community groups, according to reports. The protest is part of a global day of action that organizers estimate will bring hundreds of thousands to the streets in more than 200 cities worldwide.

    Climate activists draw cautious midterm conclusion
    Climate activists are drawing a subdued mid-term assessment of the COP26 world climate conference in Glasgow. “The governments of the largest industrialized nations (…) stand out with big announcements but little action,” said Sven Harmeling of the aid organization Care. The environmental organization WWF welcomed far-reaching commitments by most countries to protect forests and other natural habitats, but called for more solid funding for conservation measures.

    “Governments gathered in Glasgow have announced important commitments on forests and land use in recent days,” said WWF’s Gavin Edwards. According to a new report from the organization, 92 percent of countries’ climate action plans now include measures to address the loss of nature. That compares with 82 percent in July, according to the report.

    “This is an encouraging sign that more countries are recognizing the critical role of nature-based solutions in addressing the global climate crisis,” he told WWF. “Governments must now provide new and additional funding for nature-based solutions.”

    Funding is also lacking to help poorer countries fight climate change, according to the aid organization Care: “While there were additional announcements earlier this week for more climate finance to developing countries, even these are not enough to reach the promised 100 billion euros by 2022 at the latest,” Care said.

    Industrialized countries had already committed in 2009 to raising a total annual amount of $100 billion for climate action in poorer countries starting in 2020. However, the target will not be met, and there is no guarantee that it will be reached at a later date. The unfulfilled promise is putting a strain on negotiations to implement the Paris climate agreement.

    “In the second week of the climate conference, one of the issues will now be to agree on concrete milestones and measures with all governments by 2023,” Care further explained.

    The industrialized nations had already committed in 2009 to raising a total annual sum of $100 billion for climate protection in poorer countries from 2020. However, the target will not be met, and there is no guarantee that the target will be reached at a later date. The unfulfilled promise is putting a strain on negotiations to implement the Paris climate agreement.

    “In the second week of the climate conference, one of the issues will now be to agree on concrete milestones and measures with all governments by 2023,” Care further explained.

    Austria does not go along with climate protection declaration – due to lack of nuclear power exclusion
    Halve emissions by 2030, stop subsidies for fossil fuels as soon as possible, reduce methane emissions, secure climate financing – that’s essentially what the so-called High Ambition Coalition is calling for in a statement. It is an informal grouping of powerful industrialized countries and particularly vulnerable states that was formed on the initiative of the Marshall Islands in the run-up to the negotiations for the Paris Agreement. Basically, the group wants to achieve more on climate protection more quickly. Around two dozen states in the grouping of 61 countries – including the U.S., France, Spain and New Zealand – have signed the declaration, which probably wants to be seen as a blueprint for a final declaration at the climate conference.

    Austria is not among the signatory states, although Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) said a few days ago that Austria would again be part of the “High Ambition Coalition”. According to reports, the reason for this is that electricity from natural gas and nuclear energy are not explicitly excluded as green transition technologies. Austria is quite consistent in its stance on this issue at the EU level. But the signatories also include countries that have already initiated the phasing out of nuclear energy – Germany and Italy, for example.

    CO2 footprint of the super-rich 30 times higher than tolerable
    By 2030, the per capita emissions of the richest one percent of the world’s population will be around 30 times greater than would be compatible with limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is according to a study presented by the development organization Oxfam on the occasion of the World Climate Conference, which shows how the pledges made so far by governments would affect the carbon footprint of the richer and poorer parts of humanity.

    To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees as agreed in the Paris Agreement, the global average per capita greenhouse gas emissions should be no more than 2.3 metric tons in 2030 – about half the current level. The study “Carbon Inequality in 2030: Per capita consumption emissions and the 1.5C goal” by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) shows that per capita emissions by the poorer half of the world’s population will remain well below a level compatible with the 1.5 degree limit in 2030. The richest ten percent, on the other hand, will exceed it by a factor of nine.

    The richest one percent of people will even produce per capita emissions 30 times above a level that is still tolerable. “This means that whoever is in the richest one percent of the world’s population would have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about 97 percent by 2030 compared to today in order to contribute fairly to meeting the 1.5-degree limit,” Oxfam concluded. The richest 10 percent would be responsible for more emissions in 2030 than would be allowed to meet the 1.5-degree limit, regardless of what the other 90 percent do. (red, APA, Reuters, 11/5/2021)

  2. Austria has some pretty stupid stance on nuclear. Built a reactor and didn’t use it… Nuclear is our best bet currently. Anything else is wishful thinking.

  3. Austria is probably the most- anti-Nuclear country in Europe, the activists who protested Zwentendorf in the 70’s are still considered enviromentalists and heroes. This is actually something the left and right mostly agree on here.

    When I was in school during the 2000’s we were taught a a very clear anti-Nuclear stance and only later was I able to develop a more nuanced opinion about it.

  7. Not a surprise they don’t give a fuck about “climate protection”.

    [Austria](https://twitter.com/ajjohnson100/status/1443839382369284126?s=21) will tell you that it’s unfair, that those who chose not to use nuclear should not be held to the same standards than those who chose to use it. There’s no rush to decabonise electricity, you see, because: “quality is more important than being the fastest”. We don’t want nuclear, the climate can just wait.

  8. Nuclear plants are the only way to save our planet, it is sad that developed and well educated country like Austria don’t get it 🙁

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