Austria celebrates progress: renewable energies on record!

Austria celebrates progress: renewable energies on record!

On June 1, 2025, Austria reached the “Day of Dependence on Coal, Oil and Natural Gas”. This means that this year the country's energy transition passes a significant point. Loud ECONEWS 41% of total energy needs come from renewable sources, including water, wind, solar and biomass. However, 59% of energy demand still comes from fossil fuels, with 35% consisting of petroleum products alone.

From May 30, 2025, Austria will also be dependent on imported fossil fuels, a sign of the challenges that the country must overcome on the way to climate neutrality. A positive aspect is that Austria became a net exporter of electricity again in 2024, mainly due to high hydropower production.

Renewable energies in various sectors

The shares of renewable energy in the different sectors show both progress and challenges. In the electricity sector, the share is already over 88%, with hydropower, wind, solar energy and bioenergy playing the main roles. In the heating sector, however, the proportion is only around 40%, with progress being mainly promoted by the use of biomass and the increasing importance of heat pumps. The transport sector shows a strong fossil dominance with a share of only around 13%, although new registrations of electric vehicles are increasing, showing that change in this sector is occurring slowly but steadily.

Statistics from 2024 show that around 220,000 purely electric cars were on the road in Austria, which corresponds to 4.2% of the total car population. This illustrates the potential for a future-oriented transport system that relies more heavily on renewable energy.

Implementation of climate goals and future challenges

The “Our Energy World 2040” project is designing a future energy system that covers 97% of the energy supply from renewable sources. However, electricity demand is forecast to double by 2040, which will be covered by hydropower, wind power, photovoltaics and thermal systems. To ensure security of supply, investments in storage technologies, network expansion and system flexibility are essential.

A look at neighboring countries shows that progress in renewable energies is also being observed in Germany. In 2024, 22.4% of gross final energy consumption was covered by renewable sources, an increase compared to the previous year. Forecasts indicate that by 2030, 41% of gross final energy consumption will be covered by renewable energy, with wind energy, biomass and photovoltaics being the leading energy sources, such as Federal Environment Agency clarified.

In summary, despite significant progress in the field of renewable energies, Austria continues to face major challenges, particularly in the heating and transport sectors. The need for a rapid transition to a more sustainable energy system remains urgent in order to achieve the set climate goals and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.