Climate change report 2012

The 2012 Climate Change Report analyses the trend of greenhouse gas emissions in Austria from 1990 to 2010 and compares this with the objectives of the Austrian climate strategy. Greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 84.6 million tonnes in 2010. The use of flexible mechanisms, taking into account emissions trading and effects from new forest management and deforestation, results in a mathematical deviation of around 6.2 million tonnes. An estimate for the entire period 2008 to 2012 suggests a gap of around 30 million tonnes. As a result, legal provisions have been put in place to purchase additional emission reduction units, which means that Austria will comply with its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The new Climate Protection Act established a legal framework for the implementation of further domestic reduction measures in view of the 2020 targets.