How is Salzburg using renewable energy to change the future?

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Using clean, renewable energy is one of the most important actions that people can take to reduce the negative impact on the environment.
Energy efficiency is a key step to reducing the bad consequences of climate change and creating a sustainable energy future. This is why many countries are implementing renewable energy usage as much as they can.

Austria is one of the countries that has put much effort to achieve a greener future and use more renewable energy. The country’s goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 at the latest, which is 10 years earlier than the ambition set by the European Union.
Because of this goal, Austria substantially enhances decarbonization efforts across all energy sectors.

Austria also has an ambitious goal of generating its electricity exclusively from renewable energies by 2030. This would create a more environmentally friendly country and it would also create opportunities for energy communities to contribute to the stability and performance of the energy grid.

The country set its focus on the new green energy expansion: wind power. Now, Austria needs to start producing 27 TWh in the next ten years. The idea is that 10 TWh should come from wind turbines, which means more than 500 additional MW of new energy generation each year from now to 2030.

Salzburg is one of the greenest cities in Austria. In fact, the city’s renewable energy use makes up 70% of the country’s total energy consumption. It is also home to Austria’s most eco-friendly public transport system. The city uses environmentally friendly trolleybuses, which run on electricity, and have been operating in the city of Salzburg since 1940. The trolleybus network is constantly being expanded and improved, in a way that doesn’t harm the environment.

Salzburg is one of the Austrian cities which has already taken many actions in addition to climate protection and the reduction of emissions. The city has defined its vision for 2050 in a master plan and established a roadmap for developing into a Smart City.
This plan consists of some major changes, including the expansion and optimization of the district heating grid, usage of more renewable energy resources, reducing energy consumption and providing more options for mobility in the city.

The city has started a number of different climate protection projects and a wide range of emissions-reducing initiatives.
Since 2008, the city’s Spatial Development Strategy includes national and international targets for climate protection, a policy to significantly lower energy consumption and the increase of the share of renewables.

The city has a goal of lowering per capita energy consumption by 30 % between 2010 and 2050 and increasing the share of energy produced locally from renewables from 8.8 % in 2010 to 32.3 % in 2050. (photo credit: macrovector_official/Freepik)