Creating jobs and promoting climate protection – the Upper Austrians currently see these two issues as the most important tasks of state politics. This is the result of a current survey on behalf of the OÖVP last May. Jobs and the environment are still ahead of the pandemic.
Even if other topics have taken a backseat in times of the corona crisis – environmental protection is not. As far as the central areas of responsibility of Upper Austrian politics are concerned, the labor market situation and the fight against climate change have top priority for the compatriots surveyed aged 16 and over (sample: 800). The majority consider the correct handling of the corona crisis to be the second most important order – more details can be found in our graphic below.
Good testimony
As far as climate policy is concerned, the Upper Austrians give the provincial government good marks: for 65% the course is fundamentally right, 18% would like a change of direction.
Most of the dissatisfied voters are with the NEOS – when it comes to environmental policy, more than half see a need to catch up. With 79% of the ÖVP voters, on the other hand, there are most supporters of the chosen climate course.
Domestic businesses set themselves environmental goals
According to calculations by the Federal Environment Agency, economic output grew by 80% between 1990 and 2018, while the associated energy consumption rose by 34% and CO2 emissions by only 12% in the same period. Governor Thomas Stelzer: “You will hardly find an industrial location in the world that produces as cleanly as Upper Austria.”
A look at the numbers shows:
- Every fourth automatic biomass heating system sold in Europe comes from Upper Austria. The industry has an annual turnover of 600 million euros and offers 2,500 jobs.
- In Austria-wide comparison, seven of the ten municipalities with the highest density of photovoltaic systems are in Upper Austria.
- In terms of tonnes of CO2 / tonne of steel, Voest is -8 percentage points below the average value for global steel production. The aim is to achieve climate-neutral production using green electricity and green hydrogen by 2050, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 30%.
- Since 2006, the BMW plant in Steyr has reduced the energy consumption in the manufacture of an engine by 45%. By 2025, all of the plant’s energy needs are to be converted to renewable energy sources.
Public transport investment package
The country is currently investing more money in public transport than in road transport. With measures such as the “Upper Austria Climate Ticket”, which makes public transport throughout the country cheaper and easier, or the implementation of the regional light rail system, further eco-impulses are to be set. Stelzer: “Upper Austria proves that climate protection and an industrial location are not mutually exclusive.”