Mission2030 – Climate-neutral Smart City Klagenfurt 2030
Short Description
As an Austrian pioneering city, Klagenfurt strives to develop climate-neutral neighborhoods in the city and subsequently achieve balance sheet climate neutrality. For this purpose, we work on the implementation of key projects, promote innovations and actively involve stakeholders.
Initial situation/motivation
Klagenfurt is on the way to becoming a climate-neutral smart city. For this purpose, a strategy document including a catalog of measures and an annual monitoring report was developed in 2017 and approved by the city and local council in 2018. This Smart City Strategy defines how Klagenfurt can achieve climate neutrality with 236 measures in 9 fields of action (mobility, energy, infrastructure, economy, nature & habitat, urban development, governance, digitalization and generations) and a sustainable, resilient living space for future generations of the city can be ensured.
To implement the Smart City strategy, a governance structure was set up consisting of the city's specialist departments and those of Stadtwerke AG, with the central coordination point being anchored in the climate and environmental protection department. According to the respective competencies of the individual departments, nine working groups were installed that work on achieving the sub-goals in their fields of action and use an SDG-based set of indicators to measure progress.
Many projects and measures of the Smart City Strategy are carried out as part of national and international funding projects. The application and implementation are supported by IPAK GmbH (International Project Management Agency on Lake Wörthersee GmbH), which has been organizationally integrated into the climate and environmental protection department since 2010.
The first interim result is that greenhouse gas emissions have already been reduced by 300,000 t or 53% by 2018 compared to the initial CO2 balance in 2011.
Due to participation in the EU Cities Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities in Europe and selection as the only Austrian city, Klagenfurt is expected to save 219,000 t of direct GHG emissions and offset 130,000 t by 2030.
What is unique about our city?
A unique feature of the city of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee is its exceptional quality of life. This is partly due to measures already implemented in the area of climate and environmental protection. For the last 20 years, intensive efforts have been made to improve the environmental conditions, in particular with regard to air and water quality, and wide-ranging environmental monitoring has been carried out. Possibly the most important component in ensuring a high quality of life for future generations in the long term, as set out in the Smart City climate strategy, is the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.
Content and objectives
In order to achieve climate neutrality, key projects in different areas of action of the Smart City strategy must be implemented accelerated and in parallel. The aim is to decarbonize the mobility sector as much as possible, renovate existing buildings, replace fossil fuel systems with climate-neutral alternatives and feed biogas or SNG into the existing natural gas network. The need for the city of Klagenfurt to participate in the Partnership for Climate Neutral Cities 2030 is to specifically build up additional human resources that are able to initiate innovative R&D projects, demonstration projects and, above all, projects to scale climate protection projects at the district level and beyond. Five full-time equivalents are to be employed at IPAK. The skills of the additional staff focus primarily on those specialist areas and areas of action in the Smart City strategy that are currently not being addressed enough (digitization, building renovation, social affairs, energy storage, blue and green infrastructure).
The state capital of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee has already accomplished considerable progress in terms of climate protection and sustainability in recent years. As Austria's only representative in the EU Cities Mission for 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, the city has a very special role to play. The combined support of the Pioneering Cities Program at national level and the EU Cities Mission at European level is helping us to work together towards the goal of climate neutrality. Now we need to implement the measures already developed in the Smart City Climate Strategy and resolutely pursue the path to 2030 and beyond.
Procedure/implementation
The focus of the projects is on the eight target areas identified in the Smart City Strategy, in which smart neighborhood development is to take place. The new, 11 hectare residential area in the east of Klagenfurt (HiHarbach project) serves as a prime example.
In addition to the new and trainee staff, a separate "Smart City Lab" will also be set up where the new employees will have their workplace. For this purpose, an empty business premises in the city center is rented. This should also be accessible to citizens in order to communicate the climate goals to the public and to carry out a citizen participation process (initially in the form of a youth advisory board), which is supplemented by an annual public future dialogue and a stakeholder workshop with business.
A learning environment is created from which local and regional stakeholders learn from each other in cooperation in the Carinthian central area, in exchange with the cities of the Smart City networking platform and via the Austrian Association of Cities and the Twin City Program of the EU Cities Mission and benefit. In addition, an application is made for the international Urban Transition Mission.
If the activities of the IPAK employees are so successful that staff resources become scarce due to the large number of new projects, the team can be strengthened with additional staff on a project-related basis due to the additional funding income.
Expected results
By participating in the Austrian pioneer city program as one of 10 Austrian pioneer cities, important steps towards climate neutrality in Klagenfurt are to be initiated and continued. The ambition to ensure climate neutrality by 2030 and beyond not only requires the implementation of projects within the city's direct sphere of influence, but also extensive involvement of relevant stakeholders in the city. For this reason, the establishment of the Smart Climate Lab and the Youth Council are essential results in relation to the ambitions in urban governance.
Concrete demo projects are to be implemented in the Smart City target areas and Harbach will stand out as the city's first climate-neutral district. Other districts should learn from Harbach's experiences and scale the results.
Project Partners
Project management
Magistrate of the state capital Klagenfurt am Wörthersee - Climate and Environmental Protection Department
International Project Management Agency Klagenfurt on Lake Wörthersee (IPAK)
Contact Address
Climate and Environmental Protection Department
Bahnhofstrasse 35
9010 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
Tel.: +43 463 537-4886
E-Mail: umweltschutz@klagenfurt.at
International Project Management Agency Klagenfurt on Lake Wörthersee (IPAK)
Neuer Platz 1, 9020 Klagenfurt
Tel.: +43 463 537 4877
E-Mail: ipak@klagenfurt.at
Further project with the participation of the City of Klagenfurt
Smart Dag - smart and climate-neutral renovation of the Dag Hammarskjöld housing estate
For a smart and sustainable renovation of the Dag Hammarskjöld housing estate in the city of Klagenfurt, a residential area from the 1950/1960s, the existing housing stock (buildings, green and open space, social structure) will be analysed and assessed based on the "Quartier &Wir" guide. The results are the basis for the launch of an architectural competition. The residents of the area who still live on site and the housing development agency of the department of the provincial Carinthian Government are involved in the feasibility study. The aim is to transfer the results of the study to other renovation projects and thus contribute to achieving the city of Klagenfurt's climate goals.
Project duration: 2023 - 2025