“ENERGY TRANSITION FOR ALL” HOW MUCH ENERGY FOR A NET ZERO ECONOMY?
In the context of an event organized by the Club of Rome – Austrian Chapter together with WEC Austria, we discussed Austria’s path to climate neutrality on June 15, 2022 with the Vienna University of Technology and Energiepark Bruck/Leitha and experts from science, business and politics.
A significant contribution on this path to climate neutrality will have to be made by Austrian industry, which currently accounts for about 34% of national greenhouse gas emissions.
Topic
In addition to the climate crisis, the current global political situation brings the issue of sovereign and sustainable energy supply in Austria and the European Union even more into focus.
Although Austria is already well-positioned in the field of renewable electricity supply through hydropower, a large part of primary energy (for heating, mobility & industry) is still obtained from fossil sources. For the desired rapid decarbonization and possible energy sovereignty, we still must overcome some major hurdles. For example, the expansion target for an additional 27 TWh of electricity in the Renewable Energy Exchange Act (EAG) is already a big step, but it does not yet cover all areas and by no means covers (consciously) the entire primary energy demand.
In particular decarbonization of energy-intensive industries is not yet taken into account. In fact, it is still in discussion to what extent electricity and green gases in particular hydrogen will be needed to decarbonize the industry sector, which represents 34% of greenhouse gases in Austria.
Dr. Michael Losch (Special Envoy for Green Industrial Policy, BMK, Vice President World Energy Council Austria, Executive Board Club of Rome – Austrian Chapter) addresses a welcome to the participants and emphasized the engagement of the organizing organizations.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nebojsa Nakicenovic (Former Deputy Director of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)) talks about International and European Perspective of the energy transition.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Reinhard Haas (Energy Economics Group, TU Wien) discusses what the big picture in the energy sector looks like for Austria and what and how much is needed?
In a subsequent panel discussion Theresia Vogel (Managing Director Klima- und Energiefonds), Mag. Judith Neyer (Director Strategic Energy Policy, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology), DI Markus Mitteregger, MBA (CEO RAG Austria AG), DI Dr. Hildegard Aichberger (Member of the Board, oekostrom AG), Peter Eiler (Head of Hydrogen Center, VERBUND Energy4Business GmbH). Moderation: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Steininger discussed how to implement the energy transition in practice.
The video recording of the event is available here.
