Carbon Management Strategy (CMS)

The thematic focus areas of the Carbon Management Strategy include:

• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): the capture, transport, and permanent geological storage of CO₂;

• Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU): the capture, transport, and subsequent conversion of CO₂ into a product;

• Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR): the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere through technical or nature-based methods.

Key Points:

• Emphasis on Austria’s climate and energy policy focusing on cost-effective measures to reduce and avoid greenhouse gas emissions by substituting fossil fuels with sustainable, renewable energy and improving energy efficiency (“mitigation/energy-efficiency first” principle);

• Mandate to establish the legal basis for lifting the domestic ban on geological CO₂ storage and creating the necessary legal framework for geological CO₂ storage of hard-to-abate or unavoidable emissions under strict safety and environmental standards;

• Establishment of a conditional definition of “hard to abate”, developed by a scientific advisory board using available data and international best-practice examples, and adopted by the federal government;

• Mandate to evaluate and, if necessary, adapt the legal framework for pipeline-based CO₂ transport;

• Mandate to develop a science-based, comprehensive, and time-differentiated planning foundation for the national and cross-border rollout of necessary CCUS/tCDR infrastructure and its operation;

• Mandate to establish a legal framework for implementing minimum capture, transport, and storage targets for CO₂, CO₂ removal targets for technical sinks, and ensuring storage capacities abroad (within Europe).

Scientific Advisory Board for the Carbon Management Strategy

An independent scientific advisory board composed of national and international experts was established during the development of the Carbon Management Strategy.

Taking into account the priority of measures to reduce and avoid greenhouse gas emissions and to increase efficiency, the advisory board first developed a uniform definition of “hard to abate”. Furthermore, the board provided technical, socio-economic, and ecological principles for the development of the Carbon Management Strategy.

The current results of the advisory board are available in the following document:

• CMS Scientific Advisory Board – Assumptions (BMF)

Members of the Scientific Advisory Board:

• Miss Brigitte Bach (AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology)

• Mister Oliver Geden (SWP Berlin – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik)

• Mister Gottfried Kirchengast (University of Graz)

• Mister Holger Ott (Montanuniversität Leoben)

• Miss Ilse Schindler (Environment Agency Austria)

• Miss Sigrid Stagl (Vienna University of Economics and Business)

• Mister Karl Steininger (Wegener Center, University of Graz)

Next Steps:

Measures from the CMS action plan will be planned and implemented. Governance for the implementation phase includes a political steering group, the scientific advisory board, working groups, and “action plan leads.”