14.11.2024:

We hosted a fictive ‘Sufficiency Council on climate policy’ with Stakeholders to find out which of the presented climate policy measures with varying sufficiency effects can be considered as socially acceptable. Stakeholders were environmental and social NGOs as well as various institutions that we assigned to the governance sector. We presented figures on the carbon footprint by income over the last two decades and past policy measures. The stakeholders then discussed 7 out of 20 climate policy measures, with activation of vacant floor space receiving the most approval among all participants. The discussion revealed a general trend that as social compatibility increases, the potential for reducing emissions decreases.

3.-4.4.2024:

FOCAL-points goes Klimatag! Simone Gingrich presented intermediate project results to the international ACRP steering committee and interested colleagues. An excellent opportunity for meeting and mutual learning among ongoing ACRP research projects, and for exchange with colleagues in diverse fields of climate research.

Find our poster here !

7.11.2023:

Our FOCAL-Points workshop at the BOKU Sustainability Day went great: 40 participants, three different, all constructive sufficiency councils, and some valuable insights. For example, we found that sufficiency can meet with broad support, especially when positive visions such as community and innovative design options are associated with it - and that the controversial negotiation process takes much more time than two hours!

You can find the slides we showed as input here.

Announcement for German-Speakers:

On Nov 7, the FOCAL-points team organizes a Workshop at BOKU's "Sustainability Day". We will address the question: "Towards sufficiency in democracy: how can this work?".

Find all details here!

No registrations required, we look forward to many participants!

26.06.2023:

The entire FOCAL-points project team met today for an internal workshop to present and discuss the first results obtained. In a very productive meeting, we shared findings from the household GHG footprint analysis, the climate change mitigation policy analysis, and the stakeholder interaction. The goal was to update each other to ensure good coordination between the work packages, which should allow integration towards how climate policies have affected household GHG footprints trends in recent decades.

 

 

23.03.2023:

Today, Willi Haas and Simone Gingrich started phase 1 of  the stakeholder interaction in an intensive discussion with four citizens who were part of the former Austrian citizen council for climate. We elaborated which elements in the project were particularly relevant from their perspective, and which challenges and solutions for demand-side climate policy they find most promising to explore. We are extremely grateful for the valuable contributions we received, and look forward to the further exchange with this group next year.

22.11.2022:

Together with colleagues from the APCC Special Report on Structures for a Climate Friendly Living, today, we organized a first workshop aimed at comparing and analyzing Austrian climate change mitigation reports from a leverage points perspective. For this, we identify relevant reports from different Austrian actors and analyze at the concrete measures proposed. We apply a leverage points perspective to identify where in the overall Austrian socio-economic system climate mitigation interventions are suggested. For example, are policy interventions targeting technological efficiencies, feedbacks, rules, or goals of the system.

17.10.2022: 

Today we had our first in-person meeting to kick-off our ACRP-funded project named "FOCAL-points". Over the next three years we will explore in an inter- and transdisciplinary manner how households' GHG-footprints in Austria have been influenced by policy interventions over the last two decades to find which demand-side mitigation strategies are needed for a transformation. We are very much looking forward to interesting results and fruitful collaborations with partners.

17.08.2022: 

A first report providing the project's main key points and a summary of the research project can be found on the funder's homepage (Austrian Climate Research Program, ACRP):

https://www.klimafonds.gv.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/C264884-ACRP14-FOCAL-points-KR21KB0K00001.pdf