Balance sheet after 5 years

How successful was the state government on climate?

The wind farm on the Pretul near Mürzzuschlag has been in operation since 2017. Both the government and the Greens want many more wind turbines in the country.(Bild: ÖBf-Archiv/R. Leitner)

The state's Climate Cabinet, founded in 2020, took stock of 114 projects over the past four and a half years. A new strategy aims to make Styria even greener. Green enough? No, say the Greens.

The state elections are approaching, and naturally this also means that politicians have to take stock. This is what the ÖVP and SPÖ did on Thursday in Graz on the subject of climate. At the end of August, the Greens had already made headway in this area and posed almost 50 questions to LH Christopher Drexler (ÖVP), implying the accusation that too little was being done in this area.

On Thursday, Drexler appeared before the press with government colleague Simone Schmiedtbauer as well as Deputy Governor Anton Lang and Ursula Lackner (SPÖ). What followed was a list of the projects implemented or underway since 2020: the definition of priority zones for photovoltaics, 118 wind turbines in the province, the renovation of the Mur power plant in Laufnitzdorf, one hundred e-cars and 15 e-buses in the province's vehicle fleet, boiler replacement in provincial administration buildings, electrification of trains and buses, expansion of cycling by 380 million euros, a service point for energy advice for municipalities, an Agri-PV research project in Haidegg and more.

The climate cabinet: LR Simone Schmiedtbauer, LH-Stv. Anton Lang, LH Christopher Drexler and LR Ursula Lackner(Bild: steiermark.at/binder)

A total of 114 projects were financed with the 85 million euro climate fund. The Climate Cabinet, which is made up of the four members of government, has met 21 times. 

New strategy presented
The goal of making the administration climate-neutral by 2030 remains in place. In addition, 250 wind turbines are to be installed in the Styrian landscape by then. The newly presented Climate and Energy Strategy 2030+ also includes the goal of reducing emissions by 48% by 2030 (in areas where emissions trading is not possible, such as transport, agriculture and buildings). "We want to increase the share of renewable energies to 55% by 2030," says Lackner. It currently stands at 35 percent.

"We are united and pulling in the same direction," Lackner continues. "We have not only announced, but also implemented," Anton Lang sums up. 

Greens criticize
Immediately after the state government's press conference, the Greens hosted another one. Club leader Sandra Krautwaschl was half amused, half shocked: "Yes, what has happened so far is good. But we called for a climate-neutral provincial administration back in 2005. All of this is insufficient if the state government ignores the most important lever: soil protection."

Sandra Krautwaschl, Greens(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Spatial planning is "the traffic production machine of the future", says Krautwaschl. Specifically, she is calling for mandatory PV on parking spaces, the definition of no-go areas that must not be built on under any circumstances and a fixed upper limit of sealed surfaces per day - "as far as the number is concerned, whether 2.5 or 3 hectares, I am flexible."

The NGO Global 2000 criticized "too little greenhouse gas reduction and too little expansion of renewable energy" to really achieve complete climate neutrality by 2040.