Welcome to CarbManage.Earth!

This webspace is powered by the Wegener Center of the University of Graz on behalf of its Field of Excellence Climate Change Graz. It serves as an open platform to provide information and exchange on Carbon Management (CM), a new climate action management approach. CM provides guidance and tools supporting everybody from public entities such as countries via institutions such as companies to families and individual persons to achieve Paris-compliant emission reduction goals. Below you find selected key links to detailed CM info, followed by a short info right here on what CM is – in a nutshell.

Welcome to join and become empowered for climate action to share in your emission reduction solutions, in the spirit of the CM motto: CarbManage – carbsmart to Paris.


Selected key links – detailed CM info:

2021:
o Release of the Wegener Center Research Brief “Carbon Management: a new approach to achieve Paris-compliant climate goals”, which provides the foundational introduction of CM (Kirchengast et al. RB 1-2021). Read and download this Research Brief here (EN, Foreword & Executive Summary also DE) and watch the related Presentation Video (EN, for DE version switch to language DE). Find the Press Release here. Have a look also at this short Video about CM (June 2021 ©UniGraz/Koppelhuber).
o CM for gastronomy services – role model Uni Graz: Research Article “Low carbon diet: Integrating gastronomy service emissions into the Carbon Management of the University of Graz” (Harrer et al., Sustainability, 2021).

2023:
o Update to RB 1-2021 – Goals of CM: Infosheet “The Carbon Management approach: Summary of the goals of PCM, ICM and pCM”, which refines also the definition of Net-zero and Climate-neutral (Kirchengast et al., CM Team Uni Graz, 2023).
o CM in practice – ICM for Universities & role model ICM UniGraz (DE): Artikel “Vom Klimawissen zum Klimaschutz mittels Carbon Management: Österreichische Universitäten am Weg zur Klimaneutralität” (Danzer et al., ÖGM bulletin, 2023).
o CM service tool for tracking mobility emissions – CarbonTracer (DE, as of 2025 also EN): Infodokument “Carbon Tracer – ein Carbon Management Service der Uni Graz” (Kirchengast et al., CM Team Uni Graz, 2023).
o CM study on mobility emissions – data source ICM UniGraz: Research Article “Unmasking mobility patterns: international travel behavior and emissions of scientists in a higher research institution” (Hölbling et al., IJSHE, 2023).

2024:
o Update to RB 1-2021 – CM Short Introduction Online (EN, DE): Web intro “Carbon Management – The successful path to climate neutrality | Erfolgreich am Weg zur Klimaneutralität” (Kirchengast et al., Wegener Center CM Website, 2024).
o Update to RB 1-2021 – CM Short Overview (5p.): Slides set “CM Overview and PCM, ICM, pCM Slides” (Kirchengast et al., CM Presentation Core Slides, 2024).
o Update to RB 1-2021 – CM Introduction & Overview (23p.): Slides set “Carbon Management (CM) – a new approach to achieve Paris-compliant climate goals: Introduction & Overview” (Kirchengast et al., CM Presentation, 2024).
o Study on mobility emission reductions – CM know-how Uni Graz: Research Article “Decarbonizing conference travel: Testing a multi-hub approach” (Kremser et al., BAMS, 2024).


What CM is – in a nutshell:

The climate action management approach “Carbon Management – carbsmart2Paris” (in short CM) is a new solution framework helping to meet the challenge of the Paris Agreement climate goals. This challenge of contributing towards limiting global warming to well below 2°C, with efforts to reach 1.5°C, is profound not only for international policy and whole countries worldwide but also at the sub-country institutional levels of organizations and companies as well as down to household, family and individual person levels.
Together achieving the needed sustainable transformation to a low carbon and climate-friendly society, activity, and lifestyle in a fair and effective manner at all these public, institutional and personal levels requires a professional solution-oriented climate action approach to successfully implement one’s own portion of an overall successful climate change mitigation.

Carbon Management (CM) comes in to support actors at all these levels, and doing so comprehensively, in its three forms of Public Carbon Management (PCM), Institutional Carbon Management (ICM) and Personal Carbon Management (pCM). See also this Infosheet on the goals of PCM, ICM and pCM. The three forms share the general CM approach of helping actor entities estimate a reliable Reference Emissions Inventory (“RefEms2020 – CMRE2020”) and to pursue a successful low carbon transition in a sustainable way by adopting and implementing Paris-compliant decadal budgets (e.g., CMDBs 2021-2030 and 2031-2040) and corresponding year-by-year reduction target paths (CMTPs).
Along implementation each CM form ensures engaging all relevant actors in the needed action areas for achieving energy, mobility, resources, and stocks changes that lead to meet the targets. In this context both the entities’ actors (from single- to multi-level) and action areas structure (action fields, subfields, emission groups), as well as relations to external actors and influences, are relevant as is a dynamical decision support workflow (CMDSflow). This workflow guides the whole CM process over its quarterly and year-by-year course while dynamically informing the actors, and enabling adaptive improvement, by achievement-vs-target assessments based on emissions monitoring and actors-based modeling. See also this concise summary of the six key elements (steps) of implementing CM: Six steps on the way to climate neutrality (Wegener Center CM intro page).

The CM approach is hence a joint framework helping at all action levels to take charge of one’s fair share in implementing a global climate solution that cannot wait: given the firm scientific knowledge available meanwhile on greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, and climate change impacts such as weather and climate extremes, we need to fully accept these physical climate change realities and proactively support the inevitable need for transforming to a low carbon society able to reach the Paris climate goals.


And an encouragement – if we can do it, you can do it!

We at the University of Graz, a research & higher education institution with about 4300 employees and 30000 students in Austria, didn’t just conceive and now continue to develop the CM approach for others to better act but rather take it serious ourselves. Since 2020 we are implementing our own Institutional Carbon Management (ICM) in-house (ICM UniGraz|klimaneutral.uni-graz.at) and so we are deploying the concept and key tools of ICM ourselves in practice, in synergy with carrying our CM research along. Together with CM Dissemination Partners we also support others in ICM and Public Carbon Management (PCM) implementation and facilitate innovative Personal Carbon Management (pCM) services.

Furthermore, for background information and motivation, we simultaneously developed and started the GCCI-Graz Climate Change Indicators Portal. This portal provides reliable recent-past monitoring information jointly with current-state nowcasting and Paris-compliant future projection information, over the critical timeframe from 1960 via the present to 2050. In doing so it focuses on greenhouse gas emissions (GEM-GHG Emissions Monitoring), global warming (CWM-Climate Warming Monitoring), and climate change impacts in terms of weather and climate extremes (EWM-Extreme Weather Monitoring; released spring 2025).

By acting as such a role model and information source, we intend to serve as an innovative pioneer both in research and in practice. In this way we want to encourage and support also other entities at all levels (other public ones, but also private companies and organizations as well as individual persons and their networks) in achieving their Paris-compliant climate goals thanks to professional climate action management by the CM approach.

This webspace was opened in April 2021 and is repeatedly updated – stay tuned.