Climate crisis: ways out of the dilemma

Symbolic environmental behavior, as examined in many studies on the discrepancy between environmental awareness and behavior, will not suffice to find pathways solving the climate crisis. Environmental awareness is important but what is really needed are adequate political and economic measures: new regulations and institutions are necessary to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite climate conferences, such as recently in Baku, the climate record remains devastating. Only a few years remain to achieve the climate goals. Technologies and effective instruments are available; what is lacking is political will. The production of renewable energy is already more cost-effective than fossil energy sources. But transforming the energy system requires extensive investments. A price tag for CO2 is indispensable. Yet, the distributional effects and the burden on lower-income groups must also be considered.

The new Environmental Panel in Germany (GLEN) provides information on public attitudes and behavior, the dynamics of these attitudes, and the question of acceptance of climate policies. The lecture addressed climate policy measures and their distributional effects. Additionally, initial results from the GLEN study were presented.

Speaker:
Andreas Diekmann
Senior Professor of Sociology at the Universities of Konstanz and Leipzig, Professor Emeritus of ETH Zurich, and Co-Director of the German Environmental Panel. For more than three decades, he has been conducting empirical research on anthropogenic environmental problems.
Recent book: Climate Crisis: Ways Out of the Dilemma. Baden-Baden 2024: Nomos.

Commentary:
Prof. Dr. Helmut Haberl, BOKU University

Moderation:
Emeritus Prof. Dr. Max Haller (University of Graz, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Chair of the Austrian Sociological Association)

Time:
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Location:
Institute for Social Ecology, BOKU University, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Vienna, Building 2, 3rd Floor, Room SR 3a

The event is a collaboration between the REMASS project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project number 10.55776/EFP5), and the Vienna Sociological Association, supported by the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna