Abstract (eng)
Climate change is one of the biggest problems worldwide today. Global warming poses a threat especially to poorer countries, who are confronted with a massive loss of harvest and hunger. The main culprits of this development are the countries of the Global North, including Austria. In the past, numerous climate agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol or the Paris Agreement, have been adopted to counteract climate change. Nevertheless, the average temperature of the earth is currently expected to increase by 3 °C. Consequently, the question arises why these agreements seem to have no effect. At the regional level, there are already numerous strategies to counteract climate change, including the Alpine Convention and the EUSALP. Both strategies, although with some differences in their content, aim to protect the Alpine region and its climate from the threat of global warming. In this regard, good cooperation is needed at the horizontal and vertical levels between the Alpine countries. Nevertheless, there are also numerous problems at this point, which hinder effective governance. Especially with communication at the vertical level within both strategies, there are significant shortcomings. The case study of Styria illustrates these, where it is already difficult at the local level to convince the responsible people and thus implement appropriate measures for climate change adaptation across the population. Hence, any agreement to combat climate change requires efficient governance and more legally binding measures.