A systems-based consideration of climate change adaptation scenarios in the context of achieving the SDGs in Austria - identification of dynamics, interactions and synergy potentials

To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, the urgency of climate action is increasing. At the same time, as the impacts become apparent, the need to adapt to climate change is also increasing. This is essential in order to reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change (IPCC, 2022). In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change is not only a specific goal (SDG 13), but also interacts with a large number of other goals. Specifically, the effects of climate change can threaten the achievement of the SDGs. To prevent this, adequate adaptation measures are required that are based on an understanding of the interactions and negative and positive synergies between climate change adaptation and the SDGs (Fuldauer et al., 2022). In this context, this project addresses the question of how climate change adaptation interacts with climate mitigation measures to influence the achievement of the SDGs in Austria. The aim is to identify interactions between climate change adaptation, mitigation and the SDGs. On the one hand, it will be shown how dynamics which are already considered in the system dynamics based iSDG model affect long-term scenarios and, on the other hand, further dynamics which need to be taken into account will be identified. To take into account the interaction effects and long-term dynamics, the quantitative modeling approach is applied to analyze how different adaptation scenarios affect the achievement of the SDGs and which dynamics are in play. As the model has a largely simplified structure for taking adaptation into account, the project aims to identify and discuss potentials for extensions. Therefore, the model results will be set in the context of the current state of research and discussed with experts.