Good climate news

Fewer emissions last year

Good news on climate change: greenhouse gas emissions in Austria fell in 2024. However, the decline was less significant than expected in November. Nevertheless, 2024 is the third year in a row in which the figures have fallen significantly.

According to the latest estimate by the Federal Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions fell by around 2.7 percent last year. That's around 1.9 million tons of CO₂ equivalents. Climate expert at the Federal Environment Agency Günther Lichtblau is pleased with the decline, but at the same time warns us to keep at it.

"We can see that it pays to implement measures. This remains necessary in order to achieve the climate targets and climate neutrality," says Lichtblau.

CO₂ equivalents

CO₂ equivalents are used to make different greenhouse gases comparable with each other. This makes it easier to recognize the influence of different gases on climate change.

To do this, the quantity of a greenhouse gas (e.g. methane or nitrous oxide) is converted into the corresponding quantity of CO₂ (carbon dioxide).

It is particularly pleasing that greenhouse gas emissions continue to follow the downward trend - they are falling for the third year in a row. In their first estimate in November 2024, however, the experts assumed an even more significant decrease of 3.7 percent.

The latest estimate is based on available data and statistics and expert estimates and is somewhat less encouraging, but the decline is still noticeable: there is a drop in most sectors, with the highest reductions in the buildings (11%) and transport (4%) sectors.