Abstract

On February 18, 2025, the 80-year-old Native American activist Leonard Peltier was finally released after almost 50 years in prison for a crime - he never admitted - to house arrest. Completely omitted by the European mainstream media, the First Nations in Northern America celebrated this success of the decade-long international movement “Free Leonard Peltier” and welcomed their spiritual head at home in North Dakota. Documentary filmmaker Claus Biegert, who visited Leonard Peltier in the high-security prison, will present parts of his documentary “I am the Indian Voice,” and Native American singer-songwriter Mitch Walking Elk will report about the current situation of Leonard Peltier and the First Nations in the US.

Abstract

Waste paper is a central and very important raw material in the paper industry. However, the availability of recovered paper, the procurement of recovered paper and the preparation process are associated with challenges for the paper industry. The aim of this presentation is to provide a more detailed technical description of the waste paper preparation process, to highlight its limitations and to present future developments in a simple and understandable way.

Abstract

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology long called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the European Union but is still banned in Austria and the subject of heated debate. CCS enables (a) the capture and long-term storage of CO2 from industrial sources to prevent its release into the atmosphere, and (b) the direct capture of CO2 from the atmosphere (e.g. from biomass - BECCS) to achieve negative emissions. CCS is therefore seen (in some parts of the world) as the key to decarbonizing CO2-intensive industries, especially for emissions that are difficult to avoid, and to actively reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The presentation gives a brief overview of the CCS technology chain, in particular geological storage, and discusses the underlying storage mechanisms and aspects of storage safety. The necessity of implementing CCS and BECCS will be discussed on the basis of energy and climate scenarios, and examples of ongoing CCS projects will be presented. Finally, it will be discussed to what extent and in what form geological CO2 storage is an option for Austria to achieve climate neutrality while maintaining the competitiveness of the Austrian CO2-intensive industry.

Abstract

Climate protection and sustainability are key challenges for today's economy. The EU taxonomy brings with it both new challenges and valuable opportunities. As part of our event, we would like to introduce important aspects such as climate accounting and the CO2 footprint and present concrete measures. This event is organized in cooperation with the Montanuniversität Leoben, the TripleN-Talks and the GreenTech Valley Cluster.

Following the presentation, we invite you to an exciting excursion to the main square in Leoben. Here, a redesign was carried out in 2024 according to the sponge city principle, which impressively demonstrates how trees can take on important balancing work in cities and on company premises.