Can we still achieve the climate targets?
Prettenthaler: If you base it on the Paris Agreement with the 1.5 °C target, then the answer is "no". We will initially exceed it. But we can still achieve it if this overshoot is only temporary. However, this presupposes that we have taken sufficient steps towards decarbonisation in the future and have technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. If we don't take too much time, the climate will hopefully stabilise again so that average global temperatures fall back slightly to a more or less tolerable level of around 1.5°C. The strong warming in 2024 is partly due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, but it is also a foretaste of what is to come. Because we have already created the climate of the next 20 years. This makes it all the more urgent that we pay attention to consistent greenhouse gas reduction, because every 100th of a degree saves concrete human lives. Climate change is leading to more extreme weather events. The large number of deaths we have to mourn this year as a result - whether due to flooding or heatwaves - will be the norm in the coming years.
What would you say to someone who is convinced that man-made climate change does not exist and that the measures taken are depriving us of our freedom?
Prettenthaler: Prettenthaler: Anyone who fails to recognise reality is first and foremost putting him or herself at risk. For example, if they ignore the fact that it's still 38 °C in the evening, as it was in Croatia this year. The concern that climate protection will restrict our individual freedom must be taken very seriously. We can design the transformation in such a way that there is freedom of choice, so that what people want and what is technically necessary are brought together wherever possible: that we look at usability and that we do not prescribe technologies from above, but that we look at which technologies prevail and how, and that we remove obstacles. We know that 80% of people want more climate protection. However, these 80% have no common political representation and therefore it always seems that ‘the others’ don't want it. So why should we do anything ourselves? I think that some communication steps have to be taken very carefully. Trust is very important in this context. Who trusts whom when it comes to climate policy.
Who do climate change sceptics trust?
Prettenthaler: We know from our own work in Germany that less than 10% of people believe that there is no man-made climate change and that ‘those up there’ are just lying to them. However, we know from surveys that these people do trust their family and friends. This also explains why they are so susceptible to misinformation on social media, because the ‘alternative facts’ come from apparent friends and acquaintances. Interestingly, scientists still enjoy a certain level of trust among climate change sceptics.
What is the LIFE Institute currently working on?
Prettenthaler: Our research centres on key issues relating to climate, energy and social systems. We help companies with the transformation towards climate neutrality and support them, for example, in preparing their reports as part of the European sustainability reporting obligations. This involves, on the one hand, the impact of their activities on the climate and, on the other, the future viability of their respective business models in the face of changing climate risks. Reporting does not have to be reinvented by every industry and every company; robust approaches can be found and learnt from others in order to deal with them well. We offer the preferential business partnership model here, in which we reserve a certain number of hours for our partners despite a high workload.
What else is being researched?
Prettenthaler: We are coordinating the European research project Invest4Nature, which focuses on the financing of nature-based solutions: Measures such as (structural) greening or nature-based flood protection measures are very cost-efficient. Currently, it is mainly the public sector that acts as a financier here. We have now asked private investors at international level what needs to happen so that such investment projects can also become attractive to private investors. In the CircEl-Paper project, we are scrutinising the recyclability of cellulose-based printed circuit boards developed at MATERIALS. At the Carinthia site, we are working on transport modelling: our LIFE Mobility Model depicts Carinthia and its population with all relevant socio-economic factors. To this end, the demand for different types of mobility is also being analysed. Other topics include green finance, the social aspects of climate change and health risks associated with climate change.
What is the situation regarding climate protection in Austria?
Prettenthaler: We have already achieved a lot, for example in the expansion of renewable energy and we have actually reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the second year in a row. In the transport sector in particular, however, much more needs to be done: The expansion of public transport, active mobility, but also the consistent expansion of electromobility, which is also about usability. This transformation must also be driven forward on the infrastructure side. In those areas where CO2 reduction is not cost-effective or not possible at all, such as in the cement industry, the issue of carbon capture and storage should be tackled seriously. In the case of cars, however, avoiding CO2 emissions by using electric vehicles is the more favourable and sensible option. The e-fuels sometimes cited as a solution are no more favourable than retaining the old technology plus carbon capture and storage. The capacities for capturing and storing CO2 underground are limited and it is a very expensive measure. Care must be taken here to ensure that these costs are not socialised and the general public has to pay for them.
Is it possible to row back completely on climate protection if the political situation changes?
Prettenthaler: The issue of Europe's competitiveness as a business location must of course always be considered in the green transformation, but that is our credo anyway. If the political situation changes, there will be different emphases here and there. But none of our industry partners are questioning the necessity, the sense of purpose and the urgency of the transformation to climate neutrality. No professional is questioning this.
Where will we be in 10 years' time?
Prettenthaler: China is leading the way and is currently the fastest electrifying economy in the world. CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generation have fallen for two quarters in a row because huge progress has been made in the expansion of renewables. The target that China has set itself for 2030 has already been achieved this year. In general, electrification will continue to advance over the next 10 years. Electromobility is highly efficient, with almost 100% of electricity being converted into kinetic energy. The efficiency is so much better than that of combustion engines that electromobility will play a much greater role for economic reasons. The same applies in the heating sector: heat pumps are extremely efficient and they are also capable of cooling. The demand for cooling energy will soon be as high as the demand for heating energy. One thing is clear, industry is transforming itself and will have cut emissions by half in 10 years' time; nobody who has both feet on the ground and is looking to the future is ignoring climate change.
Interview: Petra Mravlak
More Information
- LIFE Institute
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (WKO)
- Preferential-Business-Partnerschaft
- Invest4Nature
- CircEl-Paper
- LIFE Mobility and Activity Model
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