Policy Brief: Comprehensive Integration of Climate Policy and Policy Coherence in Austria and the EU. Which Progress?

The limitation of anthropogenic climate change requires substantial decarbonisation and thus a restructuring of the energy system, the production and consumer patterns. Therefore climate policy needs to be recognised as a cross-cutting issue and has to be integrated into other policy areas as many climate-relevant decisions are made in areas where climate policy is not prioritised. Considering the complex interlinkages and long-term demands in the decision-making process of other areas of responsibility is the precondition for coherent politics and the attainment of the climate policy objectives. So far, certain discrepancies can be identified between the political commitment to combat climate change – e.g., by the ratification of the Paris Agreement – and the actual comprehensive integration of climate policy into other relevant areas.