Report: Climate-friendly construction in Austria is on the rise

According to ‘klimaaktiv’ Vienna has the most climate-friendly built space in the country, while Lower Austria has the most service buildings

According to a recent report published by ‘klimaaktiv’, a climate protection initiative of the Austrian Ministry of Climate Protection, more and more new buildings constructed in 2021 were climate-friendly. The report includes developments that feature climate-friendly construction techniques as well as renewable energy sources.

Notably, if a structure has a heating system powered by fossil fuels, it is automatically excluded. At the same time, ‘klimaaktiv’ offers a rating system in three categories, Bronze, Silver and Gold. However, they also assign a rating from 0 to 1,000 that allows for a bit of granularity when judging the climate efficiency of a building.

More than one way to look at climate efficiency

According to the report, every year more and more buildings meet the criteria of ‘klimaaktiv’. In 2021, there were 232 new buildings placed somewhere on the Bronze, Silver, or Gold scales in Austria. This is a 24% increase compared to last year. At the same time, since 2005 when ‘klimaaktiv’ was first introduced, there have been a total of 1,211 buildings awarded a climate-friendly label.

The report, though, also looks at total building space and building type, to gauge the development situation in Austria. More than 180 of the climate-friendly buildings constructed in 2021 were residential and 154 of those were large multi-story developments. According to the report, they account for ​​465,510 square metres of sustainable living space.

Looking through the lens of federal states, since the start of ‘klimaaktiv’ in 2005, Tyrol has had the most climate efficient buildings, with 435, followed by Lower Austria with 239 and Vienna with 203.

However, in terms of built area, Vienna is the clear winner, as around half of the declared climate-friendly living space is in the Austrian capital. At the same time, when looking at climate-friendly service buildings, Lower Austria leads the way with around 36% of all space located in the state.