VERBUND Hohe Tauern National Park Climate School

VERBUND and Hohe Tauern National Park are direct neighbours in Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol. VERBUND generates clean electricity in its hydropower plants at the front section of the national park. In the "VERBUND Climate School of the Hohe Tauern National Park" it is intended that students experience what everyone is able to do for climate protection in daily life and the far-reaching impact that this can have on our environment.

The climate school is planned as a mobile school. Its range of services is initially destined for the schools of the national park communities. As a further step, students of the three national park federal states of Carinthia, Salzburg and Tyrol are also to be included. Specially trained national park rangers act as teachers, giving students from the fourth through to the tenth grades an understanding about the relationship between the climate, energy and climate protection. It is intended that the tuition take the form of project weeks. By means of method diversity and an interdisciplinary access, the budding climate conservationists should be able to see, hear, smell and touch the subject. 

Project partner – The Association of Friends of Hohe Tauern National Park
Since 1993, the Association of Friends of Hohe Tauern National Park has been supporting projects in the areas of ecology, conservation and science/research. Renowned companies such as Swarovski, Ja! Natürlich, Stiegl, as well as VERBUND and private individuals, are promoting the idea of Hohe Tauern National Park. The goal of the innovative education programme is that the decision-makers of tomorrow develop an understanding of climatic factors and relationships and are therewith able to make a conscious contribution to climate protection. The project partnership with VERBUND is a further step in this direction.

Electricity from Hydropower – A Contribution to Climate Protection
Two climate conservationists– the national park and VERBUND – have now joined forces in the climate school in order to generate enthusiasm among young people for the issue of the climate and climate protection. With its efficient grids and electricity, up to 90 percent of which is generated from hydropower, VERBUND makes an important contribution to climate protection: VERBUND is the electricity producer with by far the highest share of electricity from renewable energies in the EU; specifically for CO₂ emissions, VERBUND also belongs to the leading groups in Europe.  

Thanks to VERBUND’s electricity production from hydropower, large quantities of CO₂ are saved in Austria every year: The 2009 production of 27 TWh of electricity from renewable energies in coal-fired power plants would lead to an emission of 22 million tonnes of CO₂ and massively increase the carbon footprint in Austrian. Climate protection is therefore a key issue for VERBUND.  

Hohe Tauern National Park – Taking an Active Role in Climate Protection and Climate Research
As the largest national park in Central Europe (more than 1,800 km²) and the oldest national park in Austria, Hohe Tauern National Park has taken an active role in climate protection since its founding in1981. Glacier experts have been using the area for research for decades. The biodiversity in the national park has been collected for several years and, with the aid of a biodiversity archive, put on record for future generations. 

Changes – the disappearance of species or the immigration of new species on account of climate change – can thus be optimally documented. Repatriation projects for vanished species or those that are highly at risk (e.g. the bearded vulture, the "Urforelle" – a rare trout species - etc.), as well as awareness-raising among young people are equally the focal points of the national park. On account of the many years of experience in the area of natural resources management, science and education, Hohe Tauern National Park offers the best prerequisites to launch the climate school, which is destined to be a success beyond the borders of the national park.