Sustainable Businesses
Vienna aims to become climate-neutral by 2040 – a goal that is enshrined in the city’s Smart Climate City Strategy. Businesses have a vital role to play in making this happen. Sustainable businesses help to reduce the city’s ecological footprint and promote an eco-friendly economy.
Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage
The City of Vienna is putting its full weight behind the promotion of sustainable growth, and backing businesses that adopt eco-friendly commercial practices. This approach underpins the capital’s standing as an attractive, forward-looking economic hub, while also improving residents’ quality of life through increased access to green products and services.
In tourism, too, sustainability has become a mark of quality that influences visitor and customer choices. A range of certifications have been established to help businesses in the Visitor Economy to signal the eco-friendly focus of their operations. The Österreichisches Umweltzeichen ecolabel is a local standard which recognizes sustainable operations and provides official Green Meeting and Green Event certification. Demand for sustainable practices is on the rise, especially in the events industry. It’s plain to see that certification is more than just a badge of honor – going deeper, it is all about optimizing processes, acting sustainably, improving visitor offerings and, ultimately, driving business success.
Information, Consultation, and Visibility for Sustainable Businesses
Supporting and promoting sustainable businesses is an important part of the work done by the Vienna Tourist Board: after all, these providers give visitors green options and help position the Austrian capital as a sustainable tourism destination. As a result, the goal is to ensure that businesses in the Visitor Economy continue to benefit from the support and info that is available to them regarding sustainability and ecolabels.
Current focus: transitioning away from gas – finding green alternatives for heating and cooking. In addition, accommodations with an officially recognized ecolabel certification are welcome to join the Vienna City Card program as “advantage partners”.
Big Strides
The efforts made over recent years are already paying off. Today, 178 of Vienna’s tourism and leisure sector businesses are certified in accordance with the Österreichisches Umweltzeichen ecolabel (or similar) – a jump of 59% since 2018. The total includes 78 accommodation providers, 18 museums, and 20 hospitality operations. This provides clear proof of how seriously they take active climate protection, while continuing to meet growing visitor demand.
The Vienna Tourist Board will maintain its commitment to promoting sustainable businesses over the years to come. One special focus is on raising sustainability standards and helping providers to implement even more eco-friendly measures in future. However, the pace needs to pick up, and the process of decarbonizing the economy also needs to accelerate for Vienna to meet its climate targets.
