The association, whose measurements are included in international databases, explained in its report that "red alert" applies. The measured values ​​are a clear record. The Schlatenkees glacier in Tyrol, for example, retreated by 89.5 meters in length in 2022 - in the previous year it was 54.5 meters.

According to the head of the ÖAV measurement service, Gerhard Lieb, the development "clearly shows the consequences of climate change, which has been massively intensified by humans". This will mean that the glaciers in Austria will disappear "by 2075 at the latest". The ÖAV spoke out "vehemently" against a further expansion of ski areas on three glaciers in Tyrol. The tourist development of glacier areas is no longer justifiable against the background of climate change.

According to a study published in January in the journal Science, half of the world's 215,000 glaciers and a quarter of their mass will have melted by the end of the century - even if global warming can be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, scientists now consider the 1.5-degree target to be unattainable.

Global warming is currently heading for around 2.7 degrees Celsius, which would result in an almost complete loss of glaciers in central Europe, western Canada, the USA and New Zealand.