Climate-neutral and climate-resilient Alps 2050

The publication lays out the three central climate policy results of the XV Alpine Conference: the Declaration of Innsbruck, the Alpine Climate Target System 2050 and the 7th Report on the State of the Alps “Natural Hazard Risk Governance”. The overriding questions are: How can the goal of “climate-neutral and climate-resilient Alps” be achieved by 2050 and what does modern natural hazard management look like?

The Alpine Climate Target System 2050 and the 7th Report on the State of the Alps, a summary of which is contained in this publication, attempt to provide answers to these questions. The “Declaration of Innsbruck” adopted by the XV Alpine Conference serves as their common umbrella. Together, these are the most important products on the subject of climate change mitigation and adaptation developed during the Austrian Presidency of the Alpine Convention over the past two and a half years (October 2016 to April 2019). At the XV Alpine Conference in Innsbruck on 4 April 2019, the ministers of the eight Alpine states and the representative of the European Union approved this package, thus creating a climate policy milestone within the framework of the Alpine Convention.

The task is now to communicate and disseminate these results and, above all, to act towards climate-resilient and climate-neutral — a very important aspect of this publication. The Alpine Climate Target System sets concrete targets for 2050 in twelve sectors, ranging from spatial planning to energy, transport, tourism or research and development. It provides recommendations to achieve the objectives, with a strong emphasis on cooperation and communication with relevant public and private stakeholders and civil society.