1. Climate protection

1.4 Transregional aspects and circular economy

Resource conservation is a priority in Vienna – the circular economy offers a variety of suitable tools for both citizens and enterprises and implements targeted measures within the sphere of competence of the City Administration.

Avoiding waste, recycling, repairing, getting inspired: The “48er-Tandler” second-hand shop, repair cafés, Vienna’s waste collection centres or the annual “Mistfest” event make all this possible. The Vienna Repair Voucher renders repairs more attractive and has already contributed to preventing the production of around 2,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide. OekoBusiness Vienna, a package of environmental services, and the Vienna Business Agency support companies through consultancy, subsidies and workshops focusing on circular business models, processes, products and resource-conserving procurement. Two initiatives – United Against Waste and SchoolFood4Change – fight food waste in municipal organisations, and the ÖkoEvent programme supports eco-friendly events, e.g. with reusable systems.

ÖkoKauf Wien encourages sustainable and circular procurement within the City of Vienna and its enterprises, while the PUMA environmental management programme fosters awareness within the City Administration in favour of energy efficiency, resource conservation and eco-friendly mobility.

Awareness building is a key lever of the circular economy: Educational offerings are provided in various forms, e.g. through the “Wien macht gutes Klima” (Vienna Creates a Good Climate) climate website, the digital Climate Campus and the Vienna Climate Tour, a travelling exhibition.

The newly established Co-ordination Unit for Resource Conservation and Sustainability in the Construction Sector and the DoTank Circular City Wien 2020-2030 programme foster construction activities promoting the circular economy across the city. The 2023 amendment to the Building Code for Vienna embodied resource conservation as a planning goal, and the Rehabilitation and Decarbonisation Ordinance of 2024 furthers the use of circular construction techniques and materials. Vienna’s “WohnBAUMprogramm” is a programme that fosters timber-based techniques in housing construction and, in this way, supports the use of regenerative materials. The Circularity Factor project (German acronym ZiFa) is to provide a Viennese solution for a practice-oriented method to evaluate circular construction projects.

The “Zirkuläres Bauen Wien” (Circular Construction Vienna) urban living lab enables the triggering and monitoring of transformation processes. In addition, innovation and know-how transfer are advanced by means of novel formats, such as Re:form (OekoBusiness in co-operation with Vienna Design Week), and innovation labs including Climate Lab. Moreover, the City of Vienna (Municipal Department 23 – Economic Affairs, Labour and Statistics) has endowed a chair for circular economy and transformative business models at the University of Applied Sciences BFI Wien. In 2025, a cross-sectoral strategy will be developed to strengthen the “third C” and identify a Viennese approach to resource conservation and the circular economy.

Illustration that sketchily combines various elements related to the circular economy and trans-regional aspects along a circle formed by adjacent arrows: a man repairing a bicycle, a wooden house symbolizing sustainable and circular construction methods in housing, and a residential building being raised with the help of a crane, a man repairing a cracked screen, a light bulb, two hands replacing a lamp, a guitar, people talking and a university professor.

Highlights:

Circular economy for every day: “48er-Tandler” shop, waste collection centres, repair cafés, Vienna Repair Voucher
OekoBusiness Vienna and Vienna Business Agency advise and support enterprises
ÖkoEvent programme and reusable products for all kinds of events
ÖkoKauf and PUMA are drivers of resource conservation and environmental protection within the City Administration
DoTank Circular City Wien 2020-2030 is an implementation programme focusing on the circular economy in the built environment
The Circularity Factor project (ZiFa) is to produce a hands-on evaluation method for circular construction in Vienna
“WohnBAUMprogramm” fosters timber-based techniques in Vienna’s subsidised housing construction
Pilot projects in Vienna’s school construction sector serve to test circular construction methods
Endowment of a chair for circular economy and transformative business models
Climate Lab as an innovation lab
Developers’ competition for the Nordwestbahnhof urban development site with a focus on the circular economy