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Setback: Austria's greenhouse gas emissions rise in 2025

Climate protection is currently facing an uphill battle. The United Nations have recently been unable to agree on a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, even though global warming continues to accelerate. Also Austria still does not have a national climate law with a clear target path for reducing emissions. This is evidently taking its toll: Austria’s greenhouse gas emissions rose again in 2025 for the first time in years, by around two and a half percent, according to calculations by researchers at the University of Graz. In addition to overly cautious climate action measures, this is due to somewhat colder winter months compared to 2024, which are driving up natural gas consumption.

Happy Holidays!

The Wegener Center team wishes you happy holidays and a joyful, healthy New Year 2026!

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Erfolgreiche Abschlussprüfungen am Wegener Center

Fair distribution: Researchers determine just greenhouse gas budgets for all EU regions

Ten years ago, on 12 December 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Conference. In order to limit global warming to well below two degrees, only a certain amount of CO2 may be emitted worldwide. While the focus was originally on national emission targets, more than 200 subnational regions and almost 300 cities have now adopted their own targets. But how many emissions are they fairly entitled to? Researchers at the University of Graz have now developed transparent criteria for fair distribution at the subnational level for the first time and determined corresponding greenhouse gas budgets for all European regions. The paper was published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Influential: Rupert Baumgartner and Holger Hoff among the highly cited researchers

The number of publications in scientific journals is considered to be a measure of a researcher's scientific achievement. How often these works are cited by colleagues provides information about the relevance of the publications. Sustainability researcher Rupert Baumgartner and transdisciplinarity expert Holger Hoff from the University of Graz are among the top 1 per cent of the most cited scientists in their fields of research.

Auszeichnung für Spitzenforschung: Rupert Baumgartner und Holger Hoff

Rupert Baumgartner und Holger Hoff zählen zu den Top-1% der meistzitierten Forscher:innen weltweit Die URBI-Fakultät freut sich, dass gleich zwei unserer Wissenschaftler in die renommierte Liste der „Highly Cited Researchers 2025“ von Clarivate aufgenommen wurden. Rupert Baumgartner, vom Institut für Umweltsystemwissenschaften, und Holger Hoff, vom Wegener Center für Klima und Globalen Wandel, zählen somit durch ihre Publikationen zu den weltweit am häufigsten zitierten und damit einflussreichsten Köpfen in der Wissenschaft – gemessen an der Top-1%-Kategorie in ihrem jeweiligen Fachgebiet. Laut der aktuellen Liste gehören an der Universität Graz nur zwei Forschende zu dieser exklusiven Gruppe, die in Österreich 56 Personen und weltweit 7.131 WissenschaftlerInnen umfasst. Diese Anerkennung unterstreicht die herausragende Bedeutung der wissenschaftlichen Arbeit von Rupert Baumgartner und Holger Hoff und ihre zentrale Rolle in der globalen Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft. Die gesamte Fakultät gratuliert zu dieser außergewöhnlichen Leistung und ist stolz, Teil eines Umfelds zu sein, das exzellente Forschung auf globalem Spitzenniveau ermöglicht und fördert.

Researchers at the University of Graz provide evidence of climate change in the atmosphere

Human-induced climate change is leaving clear traces in the atmosphere. Using satellite data, researchers at the Wegener Center at the University of Graz proved that the troposphere has expanded by up to 500 meters in some regions over the last two decades. The increase was most pronounced in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere. This is also likely to be a sign of changes in the strong westerly winds, known as jet streams, and thus influences weather patterns. The new findings were recently published in the research journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Reaching climate targets: analytical models must include all stakeholders

The next UN Climate Change Conference, COP 30, will begin in two weeks in Belém, Brazil. Every year, the international community agrees on targets to curb global warming. However, implementation by national governments, business stakeholders and citizens is lagging behind. An international group of researchers, including Stefan Nabernegg and Nina Knittel from the University of Graz, sees one reason for this discrepancy in the assessment models used for negotiations on climate targets. These models usually ignore the behaviour of institutions, households and individuals. However, for climate policy to be truly effective, such aspects must be taken into account. In a recent publication in the scientific journal PNAS, the researchers propose combining analysis models from different decision-making levels in order to better understand the gap between global climate agreements and local implementation and how to close it.

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