The Climate Research Network Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA) outlined its perspective on the role of science in society and its responsibility in addressing the pressing challenges of our time in a statement published in June 2024.
Despite 50 years of scientific warnings about the consequences of unlimited material growth and 30 years of intensive efforts toward sustainable development, the world remains far from achieving a global solution to these challenges. This raises an urgent question: Why has progress stalled despite extensive scientific knowledge and numerous research programs on sustainable development and climate neutrality?
In an era of growing societal skepticism, the CCCA is addressing these challenges and has formulated four key questions that aim to provide guidance for the network itself while also offering important impulses for societal discourse:
- Responsibility of Science: What is the role and responsibility of scientists and science as a whole in the face of today’s major societal challenges?
- Trust in Science: How must science evolve or change to (re)gain the trust of society?
- Role of Scientists: What changes are necessary for scientists to meet the expectations and demands placed on science?
- CCCA Activities: What specific steps will the CCCA take to promote transdisciplinary research and act as a driver of societal transformation toward climate neutrality?
The statement was developed within the framework of the Working Group on the Role of Science in Society and serves as a foundation for the network’s future activities.
Supporting Institutions
The statement has been endorsed by the following CCCA member institutions:
- Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES)
- alpS
- University of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte)
- Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW)
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)
- Georesearch
- Gesundheit Österreich GmbH (GÖG)
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
- Joanneum Research (JR)
- Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
- University of Graz
- University of Innsbruck (UIBK)
- Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni)
- Weatherpark GmbH
For more information, please refer to the statement and the press release.