Greens push drought plan and data centre reviews in Burgenland

The Burgenland Greens will focus on climate protection and the environment this autumn, ORF reported. At next week’s state parliament session, they plan to call for an Austria-wide drought management plan and mandatory environmental impact assessments for large data centres.

They also intend to address the development of a new climate strategy. Party parliamentary leader Margit Paul-Kientzl and state parliament member Philip Juranich said on Wednesday that the issues, along with rising energy costs, were affecting residents and businesses.

“The climate crisis is no longer an abstract environmental problem, but an economic reality,” Paul-Kientzl said at a news conference. She said it affected agriculture, municipalities, businesses and families.

Drought monitoring and data centres

The proposed drought management plan would include nationwide monitoring, thresholds for water shortages and an early-warning system for groundwater levels.

Juranich said eight working groups were currently refining measures for the climate strategy. Workshops at schools are due to begin in October, with the strategy scheduled to be presented at the start of 2027.

The Greens also want large data centres to be subject to environmental impact assessments, saying there is currently a gap in the law. Paul-Kientzl said such projects required comprehensive information about their effects on nature and the environment.

Regarding a possible data centre in Nickelsdorf in the Neusiedl am See district, she said data centres were generally necessary but that the suitability of each location had to be assessed.

The Burgenland Greens will celebrate their 40th anniversary on Saturday with an event in Neutal in the Oberpullendorf district. Federal party leader Leonore Gewessler, state party leader and deputy governor Anja Haider-Wallner, and Paul-Kientzl are due to hold a news conference before the event.