Thousands of participants are again expected at climate strikes in Austria

In Austria, the organizers expected “thousands of participants” at a press conference on Tuesday. FFF’s central demand: Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) should convene a “national climate disaster summit”. Klara König from “Fridays For Future” demanded that this summer, which was marked by environmental catastrophes, including floods, drought and forest fires, “must have an aftermath”. “The summer of climate disasters requires an autumn that must be followed by serious climate policy tackling. The first step: the Chancellor calls a climate disaster summit,” said König. Here the federal government, together with the state governors, should “herald a turning point in Austrian climate policy”.

Karl Steininger, climate economist and head of the Wegener Center at the University of Graz, particularly emphasized the dramatic economic consequences of global warming. In Austria, the damage caused primarily by extreme weather currently averages at least two billion euros per year. According to the forecast models, in 2030 it will amount to at least three to seven billion euros and will continue to rise to seven to 14 billion euros by 2050. However, according to Steininger, these amounts could be reduced significantly with appropriate investments. “Smart climate policy has an extremely high return on investment; every euro invested reduces damage by ten to 20 euros,” said the economist.

“Fails because of the will of politics”

Steiniger also emphasized that all technologies to reduce emissions are already available in Austria. “We have companies that can build heat pumps and lay rails, and we have ready-made laws in the ministries’ drawers. What fails is the will of politicians,” criticized the economist. The requested climate summit is therefore “a step long overdue”.

Organic farmer Maria Vogt and Bernhard Steindl, a member of the volunteer fire department, demonstrated how strongly climate change is already affecting different professional groups. “Over the last 30 years, I have seen how the climate crisis on farms and in nature is getting worse. We used to have a dry year every ten years, but now heat and dryness are a normal condition in the Weinviertel, said Vogt. Steindl feared However, due to the sharp increase in the number of deployments, the emergency services “will soon no longer be able to protect the population from the ever-increasing disasters.”

The protest on Friday is supported by a number of organizations, artists and scientists. Eleven demonstrations will take place across Austria, with the largest one again expected in Vienna. The start is at 12:00 p.m. at the Wien-Mitte train station, the final rally is planned from 4:00 p.m. at Heldenplatz.

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