Politics Takes a Back Seat

Due to vacation season: Working group instead of a heat summit!

Temperatures also exceeded 40 degrees in some parts of Austria on Tuesday—people were seeking relief from the heat even at Vienna’s Praterstern (pictured).(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

Austria is sweltering! Heat records continued to fall on Tuesday as well. Calls for a heat summit are growing louder, but too many of the key players are currently on vacation. Instead of a climate summit, there’s only a working group... 

When you’re at a loss, just form a working group. Calls for a heatwave summit—designed to bring together representatives from agriculture, politics, climate research, and business—are growing louder. For now, though, it’s not happening, and the reason is typically Austrian: summer vacation.

“We will continue to closely monitor developments,” says the Chancellor’s Office. Christian Stocker’s office points to “the Crisis Management Office based in the Federal Chancellery.” It “already proactively compiled a comprehensive assessment of the heat situation back in January and April and established an interministerial working group, which will meet again this coming Thursday.”

Chancellor Christian Stocker himself is taking only three days of vacation in August.(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

No concrete decisions are expected, but the public will be informed afterward, Stocker said during a stop on his summer tour in Graz on Tuesday. “The federal government has been active and remains active,” Stocker said in his defense regarding heat protection, announcing a proposal to the Council of Ministers still this week that aims to facilitate cooling measures for buildings.

The reason for the lack of a heat summit? Many stakeholders (and government members) are reportedly out of the country on vacation or unavailable. Stocker himself is not; he is taking only three days of vacation in August.

“While older people are afraid to leave their homes and communities fear for their water supply, Chancellor Christian Stocker and Environment Minister Norbert Totschnig are getting nothing done. Enough is enough!” says Green Party caucus chairwoman Leonore Gewessler angrily. She joins the “Krone” in calling for a heat summit.

Politicians are overwhelmed because nothing has been done about climate protection for so long, and now everything is piling up.

Christian Griebler, Grundwasserökologe

Bild: zVg

Experten erklären

Was Österreichs Politik in Sachen Klima verabsäumt hat

For years, experts have been talking themselves hoarse about what climate change means for Austria. Yet too little has been done. This needs to be addressed:

• Pass a climate protection law: “There hasn’t been a climate protection law for six years,” says Greenpeace Director Alexander Egit. As a result, binding targets are still lacking. Even the current drafts do not specify a concrete date for phasing out oil and gas.

• Restore rivers: Austria’s rivers were straightened decades ago, and natural floodplains were built over. Far too little has been done to restore them. Now the water lacks space. Yet it needs to be retained more effectively in the landscape and in the soil in order to “reverse the trend to some extent,” according to groundwater ecologist Christian Griebler.

Austria leads the way in land consumption. Every day, 11.5 hectares are built over.(Bild: WWF/ Anna Schöpfer)

• Slowing land consumption: This would require binding caps. Currently, about 11.5 hectares are being built on every day, with green spaces primarily giving way to new roads.

• Making buildings climate-resilient: Thermal retrofits are necessary. Nevertheless, funding has been cut. 160 million euros are earmarked for 2027—in 2026, a comparable amount was already exhausted after just six weeks.
• Eliminate climate-damaging subsidies: Austria continues to spend around six billion euros on climate-damaging subsidies. At the same time, one-third of the climate budget has been cut.