UPPER AUSTRIA / LINZ. At the Upper Austrian climate summit in Linz, the focus is on climate protection. Experts tell what a climate-friendly future could look like in concrete terms and, above all, that it is feasible: from solar power to building with wood.
“The fight against the climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time and failure is not an option here,” says Stefan Kaineder, the state climate councilor. This topic is also the focus of the major Upper Austrian climate summit. “With the climate summit we are drawing attention to the crisis, against which there is no vaccination, but which has a significant impact on the future of mankind. I am glad to be able to welcome the most renowned German-speaking climate and energy experts to Linz, ”said State Climate Councilor Stefan Kaineder.
Living climate-neutrally is possible
In the report “Living climate-neutrally 2025: How consumers will make their everyday lives CO2-free in the future and what politics must do for it”, the authors Christine Wörlen, expert on renewable energies, energy efficiency and climate policy, analyze the climate footprints of a model family and one Single household today and in the year 2035. The family is a real family of three: Lena, Jan and Emily. The three of them live in a single-family house near Hamburg and produce a good 31 tons of CO2 per year – 8 tons of which alone are caused by the oil heating in their house. In 2035 you will have a solar system on the roof and several storage systems that will enable you to cover almost the entire energy needs of your modernized house. “In Germany, it is currently almost impossible to use electricity from your own roof,” says Wörlen. In the area of the environment, there is currently a lot of catching up to do and things that have been missed must be made up for. “We took too long. Now we have to put a lot of money into our hands, ”emphasizes the expert. “But it’s possible. It doesn’t take miracle technology. “
Build with wood as a future model
Another “elephant in the climate room” is building. Eleven percent of global CO2 emissions come from concrete production. “That is four to five times the amount of air traffic,” says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, climate researcher and founder of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. For him, the future lies in building with wood from sustainable forestry. This tradition was largely lost in the post-war period, but now it has to be revived. At the moment, the building material wood is still massively underestimated. “You can now also build high-rise buildings there,” says Schellnhuber. Rapid construction with partial pre-assembly is also possible. In addition, the built-in wood, which is a CO2 store, would also be withdrawn from the cycle. “That would even cleanse the atmosphere.”
Small regional initiatives improve life
The Upper Austrian Climate Alliance, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is also present at the climate summit. “The Climate Alliance is the largest communal network in Europe,” says Norbert Rainer. Every small step in the right direction can be felt, especially at the municipal level – and contributes to the transformation. “Climate protection is safe, improves and increases the quality of life in the communities.” A steadily growing number of initiatives are devoted to resource sharing, for example, and provide added value on site: whether it’s repair cafés, clothing swap parties, community gardens or food cooperatives . The climate alliance supports these offers with projects such as the smartphone app “Find Good”, the “Repair Guide”, the “Gardens of Diversity” (community gardens) or Klimakultur.at (sharing ideas).
“Change of scenery” project
In the “Change of scenery” project, positive images of the future are collected in a very specific way, for example the one for the village square: Today, the town center is often just a parking lot with an associated thoroughfare. In the near future, it should once again become a “place for people instead of cars” in Upper Austrian municipalities. However, village life does not happen on unattractive, asphalted surfaces, but on meadows and gravel lawns or in the shade of the large trees. Networking the green spaces of a village ideally with one another and designing them with trees, bushes and flower meadows not only helps biodiversity, but also gives people a more attractive living space.
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