Austria's pioneering cities meet in Innsbruck: Together towards climate neutrality Annual Conference of the 'Climate Neutral City' Mission on 19 November 2025
On Wednesday, 19 November 2025, Innsbruck will become a meeting point for representatives from 47 Austrian pioneering cities. At the annual conference of the 'Climate Neutral City' mission, one question takes centre stage: How can we jointly shape our cities to be climate-neutral?
The third forum focuses entirely on exchange, networking and new ideas. Ten major cities and 37 small and medium-sized cities showcase the progress they have already made on the path to climate neutrality – and the innovative projects currently being developed. The mission is supported by the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI), the Climate and Energy Fund, and the Austrian Research Funding Society (FFG). Together, they promote research, development, and collaboration to enable Austria's cities to become climate-neutral even more swiftly.
Cities are not only centres of economy and innovation but also key players in climate protection and pioneers in adapting to climate change. With the research policy focus 'Climate Neutral City', BMIMI and the Climate and Energy Fund support urban pioneers in developing new and innovative solutions. The aim is to significantly accelerate the path towards a sustainable and climate-friendly future through research, technology, and development.
Peter Hanke, Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure: “Globally, around three-quarters of all CO2 emissions occur in cities – and the trend is increasing. In addition, the urban population continues to grow. By the year 2050, almost 70 percent of the world's population will live in cities. This clearly shows that the climate change will be decided in the cities. The 'Climate Neutral City' initiative is particularly important as it demonstrates that, regardless of their size and structure, these cities can do much themselves to achieve climate change while maintaining the quality of life.”
Dialogue Forum 'Climate Neutral City'
On 19 November from 9 am, the participating cities will meet at Congress Innsbruck. The theme of the event is: 'Together Continuing Successful Paths'. Even though 47 pioneering cities across Austria are now working together on the 'Climate Neutral City' mission and the successes achieved can already be seen, the challenges remain significant: topics such as mobility, energy, neighbourhood development, citizen participation, and the expansion of structures and competencies are at the heart of the exchange.
Bernd Vogl, Managing Director of the Climate and Energy Fund: “We can only achieve the climate goals together. We support cities in taking their future into their own hands, because not only should sustainable technologies and innovations emerge from our support programme, but also an active network of smaller and larger cities that exchange their knowledge and benefit from each other.”
About the 'Climate Neutral City' Mission
The 'Climate Neutral City' mission supports Austrian cities and municipalities in becoming climate-neutral faster through research and development. It promotes the exchange of successful strategies, measures, and insights that contribute to achieving climate and energy goals. The mission is accompanied by the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI) and the Climate and Energy Fund.
Ten Austrian major cities with over 50,000 inhabitants have entered into a partnership with BMIMI and are taking on a pioneering role. Vienna, St. Pölten, Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Villach, Linz, Salzburg, Dornbirn, and Wiener Neustadt set new standards by aligning their administrative structures towards climate neutrality, developing climate-friendly urban quarters, and serving as learning environments for other cities. In the coming years, they will show how a resource-efficient, climate-neutral economic and lifestyle can be practically implemented – through the realization of initial climate-neutral quarters and the development of practical measures.
Numerous other cities with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants are actively engaged as Pioneer Small and Medium Cities. They are creating climate neutrality roadmaps that contain specific actions for the areas of energy, buildings, mobility, circular economy, urban development, climate change adaptation, communication, and administrative structures. The measures and recommendations tailored to the specific needs of each city are then to be implemented to reduce local emissions and achieve climate neutrality as quickly as possible.