Review 2018 - Preview 2019

Monika Mörth joined the management team at the beginning of 2019. "The transformation towards a sustainable society is an opportunity to shape the future so that a good life becomes possible for us and our descendants. The Environment Agency Austria is working with its experts to ensure that we have this future," says Mörth. For Co-Managing Director Georg Rebernig 2019 is a year of international activities, with digitisation and human biomonitoring are further top priorities.

Global sustainability goals as an opportunity for young people

In spring 2018, the Environment Agency Austria invited young people to address the global sustainability goals. At an event, they presented their concerns and expectations to Austria´s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. At the European Forum Alpbach 2018, the global sustainability goals were at the centre of a session hosted by the Environment Agency Austria. The former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, inspired the audience with his appeal that everyone can and must act as an ambassador for the sustainability goals. Another event for young people took place in 2019: the Austria-wide YouthEnergySlam, organised by the Environment Agency Austria, the Climate and Energy Fund and the Youth Environmental Platform JUMP as part of the Risk Dialogue Initiative. Young people were invited to explore an oil-free, sustainable future. They presented their visions in creative poetry slams.

Water at the centre of international projects and national investigations

With the project European Union Water Initiative plus for Eastern Partnership (EUWI +) the Environment Agency Austria contributes to the sustainable use of water resources in the countries of the European Neighborhood Policy. In 2018, the programme included the development and extension of water monitoring systems and the implementation of national water resource management action plans in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. The project will run until 2020.

Under the RAINMAN project, the Environment Agency Austria addressed the subject of heavy rainfall events. Extreme rainfall events are increasing across Europe, hitting cities, villages and entire areas with very short lead times. Together with colleagues from Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia, Environment Agency Austria experts examined how risks can be identified and assessed and how precautionary and management measures can be derived.

Groundwater is the most important source of drinking water in Austria. The sources from which it feeds and how groundwater quality and water regimes develop has been analysed extensively by experts of the Environment Agency for more than 30 years. Two new studies published in 2018 provide information on groundwater quality, hydrogeological characteristics, groundwater residence times in the subsoil and the catchment areas of springs.

Circular economy as key to the reduction of plastic in the environment

The growing global demand for products and goods is leading to a global increase in resource use and waste generation. In order to put raw materials back in the production process after a product has been used, an efficient circular economy is needed. How Europe can pave the way for this was discussed at a stakeholder conference in Brussels during the Austrian EU Presidency, in which Daniel Calleja-Crespo, Head of the Environment Directorate-General of the EU Commission, also participated. The Environment Agency Austria was co-initiator of the event.

A milestone on the way to a successful circular economy is the EU Plastics Strategy. In preparation for the implementation of this strategy, the experts of the Environment Agency Austria have assessed the status of the emergence and treatment of plastic waste. Each year, Austrians produce around 0.9 million tonnes of plastic waste, around 28% of which is recycled.

In October 2018, a pilot study carried out by the Environment Agency Austria and MedUni Vienna showed in an impressive way how much consumers come into contact with the smallest particles of plastic. These so-called microplastics were found, for the first time, in the human stool samples of eight participants from Finland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia, Japan and Austria. The study also attracted a great deal of international attention.

Make mobility environmentally and socially acceptable

Resource-efficient, CO2-free is necessary to achieve the climate goals. The Environment Agency Austria’s progress report on mobility shows how this can be achieved. It describes 50 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Austrian transport sector which are suitable for achieving the climate goals in a socially and economically compatible manner.

The Transdanube.Pearls project shows how holiday regions can benefit from sustainable, user-friendly and cost-effective mobility solutions. It makes the Danube region a European model region for sustainable mobility. For this purpose, the Environment Agency Austria and its partners have been awarded the VCÖ Mobility Prize in the leisure and tourism category. The EU project involves 15 institutions from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Croatia.

Further outlook 2019

"We also have a lot of projects for 2019. We want to change the world and help our society to change - into a society that protects nature, uses resources efficiently and relies on pollution-free production and sustainable consumption, a society that is innovative and open to novel technical and economic solutions," announces Monika Mörth, Managing Director of the Environment Agency Austria. The chances and challenges of digitisation will be given top priority this year. One study will examine the environmental effects of digitisation while and another will look at the energy efficiency of cloud computing in public procurement.

For Managing Director Georg Rebernig, international activities will be one of the main areas in 2019. A Twinning project in Macedonia will be completed, after two successful years, at the beginning of the year. Under the leadership of the Environment Agency Austria, recommendations for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive and a draft river basin management plan for the River Vardar have been developed. A Twinning project in Serbia, which starts this spring, is also concerned with the implementation of this Directive. In addition to the activities in the Western Balkans, Environment Agency Austria experts will also continue to advise the authorities in Jordan on setting up a waste management system.

In 2019, a report by the Environmental Agency's Human Biomonitoring platform will be published for the first time. Since 2016, this platform has been the official advisory body of the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism for questions at the interface between environment and health. In this report the experts inform about platform activities and studies in Austria. In addition, the Environment Agency Austria continues to be involved in the EU-wide Human Biomonitoring Initiative HBM4EU as the national contact point for Austria and the main contact for the EU Commission.

Umweltbundesamt – Environment Agency Austria

As the most important expert institution for the environment in Austria and one of the leading environmental consultants in Europe, the Environment Agency Austria stands for the transformation of the economy and society to ensure sustainable living. Environment Agency experts provide the basis for decision making at local, regional and international level. The Environment Agency Austria is committed to transparency and impartiality in its work and engages in dialogue with politics, administration, business, science and civil society.