EU Tracker – Local heating and cooling plans in Austria
Summary
What is the status of the transposition of Art 25.6(EDD) and its implementation ?
Austria is not well-prepared for EED article 25.6. New legislation and a more comprehensive support framework will be needed.
There is no consolidated policy framework for heating and cooling plans in Austria. Energy policy related responsibilities are divided between the federal government and the nine different regions, and there is a lack of coordination between the different levels of government on energy planning related issues. Austria provides a moderate level of technical and organisational support for municipalities for energy planning, which currently is not sufficiently coordinated across regions. Some positive steps are taken to harmonise energy and building-related geodata across regions and make these data more accessible for heat planning purposes.
The Renewable Energy Heating Law (01/03/2024) prohibits the installation of fossil fuel boilers for NEW buildings. However, there is no change for the existing building stock.
Detailed assessment
The legal framework and the obligations
A lack of legal clarity and coordination for local heating and cooling plans, without any national obligation
Overview of the legal frameworks per governance level
| National | Austria’s federal climate and energy policy is defined in the national climate and energy strategy #Mission 2030, submitted in 2018, which the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for Austria (NECP), submitted in 2019 is largely based upon. Spatial planning is recognised in the NECP as an important instrument to reach national emission reduction targets through the integration of renewable energy sources. Austria has not set sectoral emission reduction target beyond what has been laid down in the federal Climate Protection Act and has not yet been updated. The Renewable Energy Expansion Act, submitted in July 2021, inscribes a goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040 and 100 % of the electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. No ambitious targets for the heating sector have yet been inscribed in law. A new Renewable Energy Heating Law (01/03/2014) prohibits the installation of fossil fuel boilers for NEW buildings. However, there is no change for the existing building stock. The federal government (2024) decided to set the focus on incentives/subsidies instead on legal obligations. Therefore Austria has one of the highest subsidy rates for replacing the heating system and/or conduct a comprehensive refurbishment/renovation up to 75% on the investment costs. This is included in two new federal laws (e.g. Environmental Aid Act). |
| Regional | The Austrian states (Länder) have considerable autonomy in matters related to spatial planning, building regulations, and energy infrastructure, as energy and spatial planning issues are areas of shared competence between the federal level and the Länder. This includes the authority to issue regulation on spatial planning and zoning. Energy related aspects are however rarely considered in these regulations. A lack of legal coordination with the federal government has hampered energy planning. Recent discussions have been held to further transfer legal competences on these issues to the Länder. |
| Local | Austrian municipalities do not have an obligation to establish a local heating and cooling plan, although some regions have a favourable regulatory framework in place to include energy (including heating and cooling) aspects in their spatial planning. For instance, the spatial planning law in the Land of Styria (German: Steiermark) mandates municipalities to define areas with obligatory connection to district heating in local spatial development plans. Strategic heat planning has however mainly been executed in larger municipalities, including Vienna and Graz. |
The support framework
A fragmented and insufficient support framework for drafting local heating and cooling plans
Technical and organisational support for local energy planning in Austria is fragmented and projects based. The Austrian Climate and Energy Fund is a key financial support instrument, which however is allocated to municipalities voluntarily participating in climate change mitigation programmes. Austrian municipalities have limited staffing resources allocated for strategic energy planning. Municipalities not committed to these programmes owe limited technical, organisational and financial support useful for preparing heating and cooling plans. Municipalities also face constraints to access some data needed to draft heating and cooling plans, while available data often is not sufficiently granular and harmonised. Improvements to make energy and building related geodata for heat planning purposes readily available are however underway, most notably through the Spatial Energy Planning platform.
Provided Support
| Technical and organisational | 2/5 | Technical and organisational support for local energy planning in Austria remains fragmented in terms of content and geography, and is often project based. The Spatial Energy Planning initiative, which provides the provinces of Styria, Vienna and Salzburg with guidelines on how to develop assessment reports for energy needs in different municipalities. The E5 Programme for towns and municipalities and the Klima- und Energie- Modelle Regionen (KEM) programme support their member municipalities with technical and organisational support and advice on energy efficiency, renewable energy supply and spatial planning. Technical assistance to municipalities has also been provided through the regional energy agencies. Municipalities who do not participate in the E5 programme or the KEM programme have however received very limited support, which has largely constrained their capacity to carry out energy plans. |
| Financial | 3/5 | Austria lacks a funding framework solely dedicated to the development of heating and cooling plans, which remains largely project-based or based on voluntary commitment. Funding for renewable energy and efficiency projects undertaken by municipalities has been allocated to local authorities through the national Climate and Energy Fund. Some Partial funding for energy planning related projects have also been provided by the Länder. Larger municipalities often utilise their own funding to support energy planning projects. However, subsidies for private replacements of boilers has increased to stimulate the voluntary actions. |
| Staff & skills | 2/5 | Larger municipalities such as Vienna and Graz have been able to undertake parts of their heat planning by their own qualified staff members in collaboration with local utilities and regional energy agencies. The staff dedicated to the development of heating plans is however generally insufficient, making municipalities largely reliant on external contractors for these purposes. There is no dedicated support for municipality staff to develop special skills required for heating and cooling planning. |
| Access to data | 3/5 | Austria provides some national data platforms on energy consumption, building stock, and existing infrastructure, however, data on energy consumption of electricity, gas and district heating is not generally available to municipalities. Some platforms provide municipalities with spatial energy data, such as ‘Energie Mosaik’ and ‘Statistik Austria’, but the data is available only at regional level, with different levels of information and granularity. As a result, the data has not been harmonised and consistent. Energy supply data may be provided by energy suppliers upon request. Municipalities do not have access to remaining capacities in network segments. Efforts to address the challenge of data harmonisation in spatial planning have been undertaken through the Spatial Energy Planning platform, which aims to enhance the integration and coordination of data related to energy planning across the regions. |
