Carbon neutrality on a balance sheet basis by 2030 and full climate neutrality by 2040 enshrined in law
Burgenland is getting Austria's most progressive climate protection law. The goal of balance sheet-based energy and climate neutrality in 2030 and full climate neutrality by 2040 are being legally enshrined within it. Annual monitoring, an expansion target for renewable energy, climate checks for new laws and construction projects by the state are also set out in the new climate protection law. For the state administration, climate neutrality is already being targeted for 2030. Deputy Governor Anja Haider-Wallner, who is responsible for climate protection, presented the draft on Thursday at a press conference together with the SPÖ and Greens parliamentary group leaders, Roland Fürst and Wolfgang Spitzmüller.
As the second federal state after Vienna, Burgenland will pass its own climate protection law. The new state government had already anchored the initiative in its "Zukunftsplan Burgenland 2030". This marks the first time that both balance sheet-based climate neutrality by 2030 and full climate neutrality by 2040 are being legally fixed.
Find out more at: burgenland.at
ORF also reports: "Politics: Red-Green coalition presents climate protection law"
The Burgenland red-green state government presented its climate protection law on Thursday. It includes, among other things, annual monitoring, an expansion target for renewable energy, and climate checks for new laws and construction projects by the state, explained Deputy Governor Anja Haider-Wallner (Greens).
"For the first time, our ambitious goals are being enshrined in law," emphasised Haider-Wallner, who sees this as the foundation for the path to climate neutrality. SPÖ parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst said that Burgenland is playing a pioneering role in climate protection and added: "The new law ensures that we'll continue to do so in the future."
The climate protection law stipulates that the state's climate strategy will be revised for the first time in 2027 and thereafter reviewed every five years and newly adopted. With regard to the expansion of renewable energy, it sets the target that by 2030, 9,300 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year should be generated from solar, wind, water and biomass.
Annual monitoring of emissions
Laws and regulations, but also larger construction projects by the state and its associated entities, will in future need to be assessed for their climate impacts, and climate protection is also to be incorporated into the budget across all areas. It is also envisaged that the actual development of emissions will be reviewed every year, to give the state the opportunity to take timely corrective action should the agreed targets not be met.
Read the article at: burgenland.orf.at
