Steininger identifies the scaling back of climate policy measures—such as the renewed exemption of fossil-fuel-powered commercial vehicles from the standard consumption tax (NoVA)—and changes in consumer behaviour as the main causes of the domestically driven rise in greenhouse gas emissions. In their analysis, Steininger and his team at the University of Graz examine Austrian greenhouse gas emissions, differentiated by sectors. The increase in 2025 was particularly pronounced in public electricity and district-heating generation, where emissions rose by around 20.7 per cent compared with the previous year. “Approximately one quarter of this rise can be attributed to the colder winter,” Steininger explains. The weak economy reduced the increase by just under 0.75 percentage points. Overall, therefore, the rise was largely due to domestic factors. “When energy prices, particularly gas prices, were very high in previous years, consumers saved more energy, for example by maintaining lower indoor temperatures. In 2025, some people returned to their previous habits,” says Steininger.
Electricity consumption in Austria is also rising steadily due to the electrification of transport, the wider use of heat pumps for space heating and industrial electricity use. “In 2025, the expansion of renewable electricity generation was unable to keep pace with growing demand. This is another reason for the rise in emissions in this sector,” Steininger adds.
In the buildings sector, the University of Graz researchers observed an increase of around eight per cent in 2025 compared with 2024. The same factors are at work here. “Around half of this increase can be explained by the colder winter,” says the economist. The remainder is attributable to the behavioural changes mentioned above, as well as to an increase in the heated floor area.
Across the remaining sectors, emissions fell by just over 1.6 per cent overall in 2025. Weak growth in gross domestic product relative to its long-term trend accounted for just under 0.4 percentage points of this decline. Structural shifts towards climate neutrality made a particularly positive contribution in industrial sectors.
Detailed report on Austrian greenhouse gas emissions up to 2025
If you want to find out more about the economic challenges that climate change poses for politics and society, you can study Environmental Systems Sciences/Economics at the University of Graz.