Research

In order to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2040, it is essential to decarbonize the Austrian building sector, which accounts for around 10% of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Almost 1.4 million fossil-fuel heating systems are still in use. Around 60% of residential buildings are also considered to need energy-efficient refurbishment. At the same time, more and more people are struggling to keep their homes adequately warm (or cool in summer), with up to 10% of all households doing so according to recent surveys. Low-income and vulnerable groups live disproportionately often in poorly insulated homes and are therefore exposed to health hazards from living spaces that are too cold or too hot. At the intersection of these two challenges, the project is guided by two research questions: 1) How should different approaches and measures for decarbonizing the building sector be evaluated in terms of their socio-economic compatibility? 2) Which approaches and measures are capable of fostering a "just transition" - i.e. a decarbonization of the building sector in line with the SDGs? Guided by these research questions, the overarching aim of this project is to identify pathways for a "just transition" in the building sector, with a particular focus on the rental housing sector. This project follows an interdisciplinary approach, theoretically guided by the current scientific literature on "energy justice" and "just transition". The project uses qualitative and quantitative system dynamics methods. It will develop a building module for the established system dynamic iSDG_AT model and calibrate it with historical data for Austria. In addition, integrated socio-economic scenarios for achieving climate neutrality in the building sector will be developed and evaluated using the iSDG_AT model. In this way, the project will help to identify possible synergies and trade-offs between various policy measures and scenarios and the SDGs, as well as new approaches to evaluation.

To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, the urgency of climate action is increasing. At the same time, as the impacts become apparent, the need to adapt to climate change is also increasing. This is essential in order to reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change (IPCC, 2022). In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change is not only a specific goal (SDG 13), but also interacts with a large number of other goals. Specifically, the effects of climate change can threaten the achievement of the SDGs. To prevent this, adequate adaptation measures are required that are based on an understanding of the interactions and negative and positive synergies between climate change adaptation and the SDGs (Fuldauer et al., 2022). In this context, this project addresses the question of how climate change adaptation interacts with climate mitigation measures to influence the achievement of the SDGs in Austria. The aim is to identify interactions between climate change adaptation, mitigation and the SDGs. On the one hand, it will be shown how dynamics which are already considered in the system dynamics based iSDG model affect long-term scenarios and, on the other hand, further dynamics which need to be taken into account will be identified. To take into account the interaction effects and long-term dynamics, the quantitative modeling approach is applied to analyze how different adaptation scenarios affect the achievement of the SDGs and which dynamics are in play. As the model has a largely simplified structure for taking adaptation into account, the project aims to identify and discuss potentials for extensions. Therefore, the model results will be set in the context of the current state of research and discussed with experts.

Universities are also required to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions significantly in order to contribute to achieving the Paris climate targets. Regular greenhouse gas balancing is indispensable for this: It makes it possible to identify the largest emission drivers, to derive the most effective climate protection measures from them and to measure the effectiveness of climate protection measures. Against this background, the project proposed herewith aims at ensuring that as many Austrian universities as possible... - balance their own GHG emissions. The practice of GHG accounting should be made "state of the art" at Austrian universities and should also be introduced more widely at institutions of tertiary education (especially colleges). - set a concrete emissions reduction or climate neutrality target. - develop a "roadmap" for achieving these goals. - implement concrete climate protection measures. To achieve these goals, the following activities are planned in the project: - WP 1: Further development of the GHG balancing tool "ClimCalc", which is tailor-made for educational institutions and which the project consortium had developed within the framework of two predecessor projects funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. - WP 2: Periodic update of the emission factors on which the accounting tool is based for the years 2020-2022 to ensure the timeliness and correctness of the emission calculations. - WP 3: Comprehensive training and consulting for universities on GHG balancing using the ClimCalc tool as well as on climate protection in university operations (setting climate protection targets, developing a roadmap for achieving targets, implementing climate protection measures). The consortium consists of BOKU, TU Graz and the Austrian Federal Environment Agency. The project builds on two predecessor projects funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund, is expected to last two years (24 months) and has a total budget of € 58,000.