Austria to ban gas boilers from 2023
18th June 2022
AUSTRIA: The Austrian government is to ban the installation of gas boilers in new buildings from 2023.
In addition, from that date, any broken oil or coal heating systems may only be replaced by renewable heating systems.
The recently agreed Renewable Heat Act (EWG) stipulates that fossil fuel heating (coal, oil and gas heating) must be phased out by 2040. There are exceptions for buildings that have already been approved, or have already been planned and are under construction.
The 2023 gas heating ban in new buildings brings forward the deadline of 2025 originally planned in the government programme.
The decision is said to have been taken against the background of the Russian war in Ukraine and the high dependence on Russian gas. The law is now being sent for assessment by Austria’s Ministry of Climate Protection.
While oil and coal heating have been banned in new buildings since 2020, the new regulation seeks the mandatory exchange of particularly old coal and oil heating systems from 2025.
By 2040, all gas heating systems in Austria will have to be replaced by a modern, renewable heating system or run on biogenic gas .
The government is providing €7,500 to support those switching to renewable heating systems such as pellet heating systems or heat pumps. In addition, there are subsidies from the federal states and low income households will receive up to 100% of the cost.
Around 11,000 households in Austria currently heat with coal, around 550,000 with oil and around one million households with gas.
