Climate protection in traffic: three reforms for Austria's CO2 goals!

Climate protection in traffic: three reforms for Austria's CO2 goals!

Austria faces a significant economic challenge: the need to use budget consolidation meets the pressing requirements of climate protection. Experts of the context institute for climate issues are now making a concrete proposal for the abolition of climate -damaging subsidies in order to achieve annual savings of up to 1.04 billion euros. The abolition of diesel protectionism, the company car privilege and an adapted commuter funding would be crucial measures for this, which could not only lead to a total of 800,000 tons to improve the state budget, but also to reduce CO2 emissions, such as Today. reported.

diesel protectionism as a climate killer

A central point in the discussion is the unequal taxation of diesel and petrol. A mineral oil tax of 39.7 cents is currently falling on diesel, while gasoline is loaded with 48.2 cents. This difference means that diesel consumption and associated emissions have risen drastically since 1990. The context institute sees the potential to save 648,000 tons of CO2 equivalent and around 500 million euros for the state budget every year. According to Oekonews.at , the current tax benefits for diesel not only have negative effects on the climate; They also put a significant impact on the state budget and could be expensive if the climate goals are not met by 2030.

The experts warn that Austria will have to reduce its emissions by 48 percent by 2030 to avoid fines of up to 4.7 billion euros. In this context, the abolition of climate -damaging subsidies is seen as a possibility to achieve both the economic and ecological goals and thus pave a sustainable path for the future. The flowing demands should not only promote climate protection, but also relieve the state budget and strengthen the Austrian economy.