AAR2 - Austrian Assessment Report

To tackle global climate change, important socio-ecological changes will be required over the coming decades. National and regional policies and strategies will be key to such a global response: The second Austrian Assessment Report (AAR2) aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of the scientific evidence on climate change in Austria and to build a solid basis to effectively inform national policy makers - especially in view of the government's intention to achieve climate neutrality in Austria by 2040. The AAR2 will be the latest and most comprehensive report in a series of assessments on climate change by the APCC.

The first Austrian Assessment report on climate change was published in 2014 (AAR14). In view of more recent developments in both scientific understanding of climate change and on the global and national policy scene (Paris agreement, 6th IPCC Assessment report), the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) identified the interest and need for an updated report, which targets both technical and non-technical audiences and will take into consideration the outlook of different stakeholders.   

This exhaustive and holistic analysis is structured in three parts:

• Chapter 1 will cover a description of the physical manifestations of climate change in Austria (changes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere, and biosphere over the last 100 years) as well as a compilation of scenario data for future changes in weather patterns and extreme events and associated impacts. 
• The second part (chapters 2-4) will explore potential options for mitigation and adaptation from the perspective of various stakeholders and facets of society and economy. Each of the chapters in this part will examine how the respective group of sectors can contribute to achieving net zero GHG emissions, the associated costs, and the opportunities and risks for different parts of society and the environment.
• Finally, the third part (chapters 5-8) summarizes cross-sector perspectives along several overarching dimensions: it outlines the frameworks and policy instruments that enable effective implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures and provides an assessment of near-term measures that can put Austria on a path for fundamental structural changes to enable a sustainable and climate-neutral transformation.

In contrast to the AAR14, this new report is to be interdisciplinary in structure and will also incorporate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

IIASA's ECE program -in close collaboration with University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and University of Innsbruck (UIBK)- will contribute to the overall architecture, structure, organization and content of the AAR2, as well as to its coordination and communication of results with various stakeholders.

Expected publication of finalized report: June 2025

First Lead Author meeting: July 2022