Assessment of Austrian Contribution toward EU 2020 Target Sharing. Determining Reduction Targets for 2020 Based on Potentials for Energy Efficiency and Renewables

Austria is committed to contributing towards the process that allocates the EU 2020 Community targets for climate and energy to the member countries. We propose that any allocation scheme should reflect and take into account the following: 1. the current status and specific circumstances of member countries as well as their emissions reduction commitments; 2. possible future developments, such as increase in economic activities and potentials for energy efficiency improvements and GHG reductions; 3. that the efforts required by each member country to achieve Community targets be revealed in a transparent and reproducible procedure. Based on the above, a three-step procedure for determining and sharing reduction targets in the EU countries is suggested. Using this three-step procedure, a range of GHG reduction targets for Austria is obtained. It is not possible to achieve the necessary reduction targets with current trends. Immediate policy changes and actions are required to bring about a paradigm shift for deployment of carbon saving measures and policies. Every investment decision needs to be reevaluated from this perspective. Otherwise, there is a risk of stranded investments or lock-in into carbon intensive structures.