Almost all human activities have an impact on climate change: exploitation of resources and energy, land use, transport, and production processes are leading to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases and to changes in the atmosphere. To be able to develop strategies and measures, it is necessary to understand these driving forces and their structures, processes and interdependencies. When assessing the driving forces, we take into account spatial and temporal dimensions as well as uncertainties of data and models.

Reference projects

reclip.tom (Research for CLImate Protection: Technological Options of Mitigation)

We developed an assessment model for technical measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The model can compare not only individual measures but also sets of combined measures and their resulting impacts. In addition, it integrates all sources and mitigation approaches, allows for a comparison of the costs and an assessment of the future development of emissions.

Project leader: Wilfried Winiwarter

Partners: Energy Economics Group - TU Wien, Division of Agricultural Engineering – BOKU Wien

Emission inventories and scenarios

Based on collected data and available statistical data, air pollutant emissions of a federal province are recorded in detail with respect to region and time according to international standards. As a result, a database is available for the modelling of spatial and temporal impacts of possible technical and organisational measures. Scenario-building tools allow for the interactive modification of measures and the evaluation of the resulting regional effects.

Project leader: Rudolf Orthofer

Partner: AIT S&S Department

Uncertainty of the emission inventory for greenhouse gases in Austria; Greenhouse gas uncertainty assessment

Greenhouse gas balances are extrapolations and include clear uncertainties, which can superimpose real emission trends. The scope of the uncertainties was investigated by means of data analysis, expert interviews, and literature searches. Finally, the uncertainties of the greenhouse gas balances and of the greenhouse gas potentials for the greenhouse gases CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O were ascertained from the source data by means of Monte Carlo simulations.

Project leader: Wilfried Winiwarter