Long-term Climate Mitigation and Energy Use in Austria – The WAM+ Scenario

The WAM+ energy use scenario relates to the energy scenarios published 2013 in WIFO's "Energy Scenarios 2030". The focus of the WAM+ scenario is on the long-term climate and energy policy perspective for Austria. WAM+ thus evaluates the effects of higher carbon and fossil fuel prices, which will become significant after 2020, on energy use and energy efficiency. In addition to the measures implemented in the WAM scenario (with additional measures), the following measures were addressed: 1. higher CO2 certificate prices in ETS sectors, 2. a CO2 tax on the non-ETS sectors, with the exception of transport, and 3. an additional mineral oil tax increase. Furthermore, a methodological refinement was implemented and four energy-intensive production sectors were analysed in a more disaggregated manner. The results show a potential for energy savings in terms of total final energy demand of 100 PJ in 2030 (with respect to WAM), while the average annual growth rate of GDP remains at about 1.49 percent. Strong additional price incentives in WAM+ are responsible for an increase in the energy efficiency of 1.3 percent on average p.a.