Assessing Energy Scenarios for Austria with the ISED-AT Framework

The mitigation of (anthropogenic) climate change requires an extensive decarbonisation of production and consumption activities and thus a major transformation of societal processes and energy systems. In order to monitor and evaluate the transformation path en route to the long-term climate and energy policy targets adequate information and measurement tools are required. In this paper we use the system of Indicators for Sustainable Energy Development for Austria (ISED-AT) and the complementing composite indices in a forward-looking approach, applying them to analyse changes in the energy system in three scenarios for the period until 2030. The analysis of household final energy demand and electricity and heat supply in Austria in the three scenarios reveals substantial progress in terms of ecological aspects, such as the share of renewable energy sources and CO2 emissions. With respect to energy efficiency, until 2030 an accelerated improvement that goes far beyond the rates observed in the past is assumed for the household sector. Making full use of the available potentials for energy efficiency improvements will be decisive for a fundamental transformation of the energy systems.