Experts on wheels: Vienna’s Climate Tour will spread awareness of climate action

In the next four months, the Viennese will be able to learn about climate change and what they and the city can do from experts on e-cargo bikes

On 8 June, authorities in Vienna will launch the city’s very own Climate Tour (Wiener Klima-Tour). The 70-day-long moving campaign will feature a fleet of experts riding e-cargo bikes, who will stop at key locations in the city and promote local climate policy, as well as raise awareness for different techniques people can use to curb their emissions.

Starting this week, the Climate Tour will start off at Christina Broda Platz, while the e-bike fleet will hold informational events almost daily until October. They will cover topics like nutrition, green spaces, water, biodiversity and the circular economy.

The tour aims to act as an ambassador to Vienna’s comprehensive climate plan, with the goal of reaching climate neutrality by 2040. In that sense, according to the city, the tour would function as a multifunctional information carrier, that wants to draw attention. They want citizens to be enticed by the presentation and discover the climate measures for themselves.

The experts, that will staff the bikes, on the other hand, will provide all the necessary information about the city’s plans to tackle the issue and what individuals can do to help themselves. Also, people would be able to try out the e-cargo bikes as an alternative to personal cars.

Vienna is at the forefront of climate measures at the city level

Although the Austrian capital was one of the first cities to come out with a comprehensive climate strategy back in 1999, city officials believe that the climate change conversation is still somewhat reserved for the administration and organisations that are already involved in promoting green goals, not the general population.

This needs to change, according to Climate Councillor Jürgen Czernohorszky, and local leaders need to work with people, to explain their strategy, goals and their ambition. As a pressing and existential issue, climate change needs to become a topic, present in everyday life and individual decision-making.

This is why the climate tour will touch on the topic of waste avoidance, the circular economy and waste management, both on the city and the individual level. Biodiversity is another important point in Vienna’s climate plan.

Furthermore, experts will also help guide citizens on the topic of food waste and the benefits of buying local, organic produce, like the municipal ‘Wiener Gusto’ line. Another important point is of course green spaces, and the Austrian capital has a lot of them.

Thanks to the green belt with the Vienna Woods and around 1,000 parks, Vienna already has reached 50% of green spaces in its city area and park initiatives are far from over.  At the same time, according to data from the city, 96% of people can reach a large green space in the city within 30 minutes via climate-friendly public transport.

Councillor Czernohorszky continued: “The goal for the next few years is to reach as many people as possible with this offensive and to create awareness that we can only achieve the ambitious goal of climate neutrality if everyone participates! We want everyone in Vienna to be able to lead a good and healthy life - and that requires a good and healthy climate. We want to work on that together!”