BRUSSELS — Austria’s new government has declined to endorse the European Commission’s recommendation for a 90 percent cut in planet-warming emissions by 2040, depriving Brussels of an expected ally for the embattled target.
Vienna never explicitly agreed to support the target, but former Austrian Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler was among the first to welcome the EU executive’s suggestion for a 90 percent reduction in February 2024. Austria, she stressed, intended to slash national emissions to net zero by 2040 in any case.
Yet Gewessler’s Greens are no longer in power, and the new coalition government is taking a more cautious position.
“It’s crucial that a 2040 climate target helps secure [Europe’s] competitiveness, including for green technologies, as well as food security and a just transition,” said a spokesperson for Austria’s agriculture and environment ministry when asked by POLITICO last week whether the government supports a 90 percent goal.
