Should Austria host a climate conference?
Only at the beginning of the year WKÖ President Harald Mahrer The same demand was made, if also with a different background: He sees it as an “incredibly good opportunity to position oneself globally”. And “we very consciously want to use this as a marketing platform for our companies,” Mahrer said at the time.
Someone who has negotiated for Austria at all 27 climate conferences is not at all enthusiastic: Günter Hojesky, Head of the Department of Climate Policy in the Ministry. The effort would be enormous. The minister would have to deal almost exclusively with this for around a year and a half and the team would have to be massively expanded – from the current 15 people to at least ten times that.” preparations busy. And last but not least, Hojesky says: “The costs would also be enormous. It would cost taxpayers around 200 million euros.”
A polite no from the minister’s office, too, saying that such a conference would be very costly and require enormous human and financial resources: “Austria is concentrating on promoting an ambitious climate policy at national, European and international level.”