On 13 May, Fridays for Future Austria and Klimavolksbegehren (Climate Petition) have launched an appeal, demanding that climate scientists will be included into all bodies which will plan or decide on economic stimulation plans after the Covid crisis. This shall ensure that the 1.5-degree aim is properly considered rather than rebuilding old structures. The appeal is open for support by organisations.
On May 18, the Green vice-chancellor Kogler announced that scientists and NGOs would be included in talks on the economic stimulation programme (see German-language ORF news item).
Furthermore, Fridays for Future Austria published an appeal for a Climate-compatible societal pact (PDF (in German). It contains four core demands:
The Vienna magazin FALTER (in German) has an interesting article on plans of EU, government and industry article on plans of EU, government and industry for the Covid recovery under the subtitle that may be translated as "Full speed into climate backlash, or abandoning finally the fossil age?
Georg Kaser (see previous blog entry) has written a contribution for the Newspaper "Der Standard" which brings the content of the open letter of the Austrian climate scientists (see previous blog entry as well) to a larger audience. You can find it here (in German, choice between being tracked or paying).
A group of economists from universities and research institutes have published a detailed plan for an economic stimulation plan that includes ecological measures, education, etc. An overview (in German) with link to the PDF that has all the details is available from the highly recommendable news aggregation site https://www.sonnenseite.com/en/ (a subset of information is available in English).
Already on April 21, a committe of ecologically oriented groups and businesses published From economic stimulation package to transformation package: Open Letter for a New Economic Miracle (in German). . The letter can be supported, as well as a petition to the German parliament.
Another ecological news aggregation site, klimareporter, reported on May 7 on a study entitled Building back better: A net-zero emissions recovery, presented by Oxford economists saying that "Green COVID-19 recovery packages will boost economic growth and stop climate change". The 'COP26 Universities Network' has drawn on this research and other analyses to create a briefing for policymakers outlining a path to net-zero emissions economic recovery from COVID-19. The network, a growing group of more than 30 UK-based universities, was formed to help deliver climate change outcomes at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow and beyond. Read more at Oxford University web site.
at SomeOfUs.org. More information on this open letter on my first blog page.
In this context, a booklet published a year ago by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, “Climate-neutral and Climate-resilient Alps 2050”, is worth mentioning. It identifies specific targets in twelve sectors towards the overall objective of climate-neutral and climate-resilient Alps in 2050.