Corn Growing in Ohio

Exact date of bulletin unknown.PDF pages: 2

Anreize zur Reduktion von Schäden durch Naturkatastrophen mit besonderem Augenmerk auf Möglichkeiten im Kontext von Kompensation und Versicherung von Hochwasserschäden

Im Rahmen des Workshops des ACRP Projekts InsAdapt diskutierten 25 ExpertInnen aus Verwaltung, Versicherungswirtschaft und Wissenschaft sowie ein Vertreter einer BürgerInnen-initiative Möglichkeiten zur Risikoreduktion in Bezug auf Naturkatastrophen auf Haushalts-ebene und Anreize, deren Umsetzung zu forcieren. - Im Kontext steigender Schäden durch Überschwemmungen und wachsender Finan-zierungslücken müssen Möglichkeiten zur Anpassung des aktuellen Hochwasserrisiko-managements und besonders bestehender Risikotransfermechanismen in Erwägung ge-zogen werden. - Weder Zahlungen aus dem Kompensationsfonds, noch Leistungen privater Versicherer bie-ten aktuell Anreize und Auflagen zur privaten Risikoreduktion. Problematisch ist überdies die Risikodemenz in der Bevölkerung, d.h. das rasche Vergessen katastrophaler Ereig-nisse. - Umfassender öffentlicher Hochwasserschutz bei gleichzeitig unzulänglicher Bewusst-seinsbildung beeinflusst das Risikobewusstsein in der Bevölkerung negativ. - Standardisierte Versicherungsprämien für Naturkatastrophen tragen nicht zur Bewusstseinsbildung bei. - ÖsterreicherInnen bezahlen aktuell den Großteil der Schäden aus eigener Tasche, nur ein Teil wird aus öffentlichen Kompensationszahlungen und privater Hochwasserversicherung gedeckt. - Sowohl auf Seiten der öffentlichen Hand als auch der Privatwirtschaft gibt es vereinzelte Lösungsansätze, um das aktuelle System zu verbessern. - In Vorarlberg werden zum Beispiel versicherbare Schäden bis 7.200 EUR nicht öffentlich kompensiert - In Salzburg, werden Schäden in der roten Gefahrenzone nur in Ausnahmefällen kompensiert. In Niederösterreich wird nur unter der Voraussetzung der Richtigkeit behördlicher Bewilligungen eine Kompensation ausbezahlt - In einer öffentlichen - privaten Zusammenarbeit wurde eine risikobasierte Versiche-rungslösung für Naturkatastrophen erarbeitet, die 100% Schadensdeckung ermöglichen würde, was aber eine quasi Versicherungspflicht darstellt

Shades of green: Centralisation, decentralisation and controversy among European renewable electricity visions

To decarbonise its electricity system, Europe must rapidly expand renewables. We analyse the controversy between two organisations, Eurosolar and Desertec, which seemingly pursue the same goal of 100% renewable electricity. We show that they interpret “100% renewables” differently and envision fundamentally different renewable electricity futures, to be reached through different governance pathways driven by different actors. Desertec reacts to mankind’s violation of the Earth’s carrying capacity and seeks secure decarbonisation through renewables, for which centrally regulated, large-scale imports of controllable concentrating solar power from the desert are necessary. Eurosolar, in contrast, seeks to decentralise the electricity supply and disempower the actors who caused the unsustainable and undemocratic energy system, for which renewables are suited as they are carbon-neutral and decentralised by nature. As the core aim of Desertec, controllable solar power imports through large-scale infrastructure, violates Eurosolar’s core aim of decentralisation, a compromise is difficult: this would require one organisation to give up its primary objective. Our results show that the reason for this controversy among renewables proponents lies not in technology or cost, and can thus not be identified or resolved through techno-economic analysis or modelling, but in irreconcilable differences in normative aims and governance choices

Final analysis/design and prototype construction of a selected mobility and restraint device Final report

Underwater tests of prototype construction of selected mobility and restraint devic

Enhancing synergies between European renewables and regional development policies

Renewable energy is key to decarbonising the European economy and mitigating climate change. For national and European Union policies to be successful, they need to be coherent and work together. We investigated whether EU regional development policies supported the deployment of renewable energy sources in a number of EU Member States. We find that regional policy is not well-aligned with the objective to extend renewables in the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland. There are inconsistencies between the two policies including: mismatches in renewables targets and respective cohesion policy allocations; mismatches in operationalization across energy and cohesion policies; insufficiently clear description of the relevance of EU Structural and Cohesion Funds in the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAP); and a mismatch between the existing rhetorical commitment for integrating markets and grids, and substantial allocations in EU regional funds. These mismatches may impede the effective use of regional funding to support renewable energy sources

Drought risk and drought risk management strategies among Austrian crop farmers

So far, droughts have not been a main concern for high-income countries, including Austria. However, the effects of climate change will likely cause droughts to occur more frequently and with greater severity also in Austria particularly (Hochrainer-Stigler et al. 2018). Particularly Austrian farmers have frequently been affected by drought over the past decade, and scientific research predicts a continuation of this trend. Targeted efforts at relevant policymaking have been increasing in parallel in different sectors and domains, however, no concerted drought risk management strategies – neither for the agricultural sector nor at a cross sectoral level – are available. This working paper presents a survey that we designed and conducted to investigate Austrian cropping farmers’ perceptions of and experiences with drought risk and its management. The aim was to inform policy making at different levels to design both targeted and integrated drought risk management strategies. The working paper includes a description of the data collection process and the survey design, as well as a detailed characterization of the sample and the data collected. This document thus highlights the main findings of the survey and serves as a background document for further, more detailed analysis. The work presented is part of the ACRP-funded FARM project. For more information on the project, please consult www.iiasa.ac.at/farm. For more information on the conceptual context as well as Austrian governance landscape for drought see Hanger-Kopp and Palka 202

Catalogue of programmes and policies related to regional development and infrastructure ("Baseline assessment")

A baseline assessment, an impact and vulnerability assessment of EU investments in infrastructure and a mitigation potential analysis shall help to generate policy options, which will be appraised in the subsequent phase of the project. In this report we set the stage for the further tasks. The report identifies critical questions and resulting implications concerning the assessment of impacts and vulnerability of infrastructure and infrastructure investments in the EU; describes EU Cohesion Policy; o details the current design of the Structural Funds; describes the issue of environmental and climate change mainstreaming from an EU perspective; presents an exploratory analysis of evidence for climate policy integration based on Member States National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRFs); and finally addresses the main research and knowledge gaps that will be addressed in subsequent research within this work package