Focus on environmental protection

A “climate check” of the parties’ election programs

Floods make climate protection an issue again.

(Bild: Stadt Wien / Wiener Gewässer)

The dramatic flooding makes climate and environmental protection an issue again in the final spurt of the election campaign. In 2019, these were the dominant election themes. A check of the election manifestos gives the ÖVP and FPÖ poor marks. According to a recent survey, voters want more climate protection from politicians.

Almost all parties are lagging behind the climate policy will of their voters. This is shown by a new survey conducted by the KONTEXT Institute for Climate Issues on the occasion of the National Council elections. Across party lines, almost three quarters of those surveyed stated that climate protection is an important issue for them. 13 of the 22 measures and statements surveyed met with majority approval among voters of all parties - including those of the FPÖ.

Voters expect more climate protection
For the representative survey, marketagent interviewed 1022 eligible Austrian voters aged between 16 and 75 online between September 9 and 16, 2024. Almost two thirds expect their elected party to do more on climate policy.

"In order to achieve the climate targets by 2030, the next government must be ambitious and bold in its climate policy. A comparison with the existing election manifestos shows that the ÖVP and FPÖ in particular have some catching up to do in order to do justice to the will of their respective voters," says Katharina Rogenhofer, Director of KONTEXT Institute for Climate Issues, explaining the results of the survey.

Katharina Rogenhofer was the initiator of the climate referendum.

(Bild: Katharina Rogenhofer_Porträt: Heribert Corn/Zsolnay)

While the issue of renaturation almost led to a coalition break in the summer, the voters of the governing parties agree on its necessity with regard to extreme weather events (ÖVP: 87.2 percent; Greens: 98.1 percent).

There is also broad agreement on the issue of soil protection: the sealing of soil should not only be reduced (according to 86.6% of all respondents), but should even be subject to binding limits (75.7%). Among ÖVP voters, the latter figure is above average at 77 percent, while among FPÖ voters it is not too far below average at 62.7 percent.

Flood protection only appears in ÖVP and Green Party programs
This voter attitude is not reflected in the parties' election manifestos. The word "flood" or "flood protection" only appears in the manifestos of the Greens and ÖVP. The environmental protection organization Greenpeace has examined the election manifestos of the parties with regard to climate and environmental protection and compiled an analysis.

Greenpeace activists during a "climbing exercise"

(Bild: EVN/Matejschek)

The ÖVP and FPÖ received particularly poor marks: the election manifestos of the two parties do not contain sufficient solutions to the climate crisis, no plans for the consistent restoration of nature or binding targets against soil sealing. Instead, the measures proposed by the ÖVP and FPÖ exacerbate the climate crisis. The Greens, SPÖ, NEOS, KPÖ and BIER-Partei focus on ecological measures in their programs, with the Greens performing best in a comparison of environmental policy parties.

Jasmin Duregger, climate and energy expert at Greenpeace: "The floods of the last few days are the bill for decades of government failure. Infiltration areas were destroyed and sealed, climate protection was only half-heartedly pushed forward. Austria's new federal government must prioritize climate and environmental protection."

All are committed to expanding public transport
The party check is based on 15 demands that the environmental protection organization sent to the parties in advance with a request for comments. These cover key environmental issues such as soil protection, climate protection and nature conservation. In the case of the transport transition, for example, all parties spoke out in favor of expanding public transport, while at the same time the FPÖ and ÖVP parties clung to the climate-damaging combustion engine.

But no consensus on soil protection
When it comes to soil protection, the parties' ambitions differ considerably: the ÖVP, for example, which even wants to promote new construction by abolishing taxes and ancillary charges, and the FPÖ, which rejects a levy on speculative vacant housing as a "hidden property tax", stand out negatively. The BIER party and NEOS also offer few measures to curb the rampant development of our natural and agricultural areas. The SPÖ and KPÖ, on the other hand, are more ambitious, with some of their election manifestos focusing on the mobilization of vacant housing and land recycling. However, only the Greens fulfill all Greenpeace demands for effective soil protection.