Lobautunnel: Gewessler's report ensures scandal for tax money!

Lobautunnel: Gewessler's report ensures scandal for tax money!

Lobautunnel, Österreich - On May 19, 2025, the rejection of the praise tunnel by the former green climate minister Leonore Gewessler once again caused discussions. According to the report of Exxpress.at , the expensive report, which justified the rejection, led to significant savings. Gewessler and the Greens argue that a total of 6 billion euros can be saved by the decision, which means in a ratio of 12,000 to 1 to the amount of the expert opinion costs of 460,000 euros, which were financed from taxpayers' money.

This report was already the second in the matter. A first internal report commissioned by experts from the Ministry of Transport and ASFINAG came to a positive result and could have made it possible to build the praise tunnel. The fact that this internal report has not been communicated to the public ensures additional reviews of the transparency of the decision. An insider expressed that the external report was commissioned in response to the assessment of the internal report and did not provide a sufficient argument for a project stop.

extensive environmental and climate impacts

The transport sector in Austria is responsible for around 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and has increased its emissions by 74.4% since 1990, which corresponds to around 24 million tons of CO2 equivalent. These numbers underline the urgency of a comprehensive redesign of the transport sector to achieve the goals of climate neutrality by 2040, as reported.

To ensure these measures, investments in sustainable mobility are necessary, especially in rural areas. The expansion of public transport and the promotion of active mobility forms such as cycling and to-foot are required to minimize the negative external effects of traffic. These effects affect particularly non-car owners and residents, and the associated external costs include environmental damage, health costs, accidents, noise and traffic jams.

financial perspectives and savings

A study on the decarbonization of the traffic sector by 2040 has estimated the costs of sustainable mobility at 50.2 billion euros. The benefits, resulting from savings from external costs and avoided emission certificates, is between 44 and 54 billion euros. The greatest benefit results from avoided accident costs and the decline in traffic jams. There are also local measures to promote sustainable mobility, which are fed from regional CO2 prices and climate-related bonuses. In this context, the urban population receives less climate monus than rural communities.

With the CO2 price of 30 euros per ton, which is under international recommendations, a price increase at the petrol stations is caused by up to 8 cents per liter of diesel and 7.2 cents per liter of gasoline. This illustrates the challenges and the need for urgent reforms in the traffic sector to achieve the desired climate goals.