Vienna Heating Plan 2040: Integrating Space, Energy, and Climate for a Resilient Future

Vienna’s path to climate neutrality began long before recent energy crises put heating systems in the spotlight. As early as the mid-2010s, the city recognised that reaching its 2040 climate target would require a structural transformation of how heat is produced and distributed, moving away from fossil fuels towards renewable and locally available sources. This direction was further reinforced in 2020, when the city’s coalition agreement set a clear target: phasing out fossil energy sources for heating, cooling, and hot water by 2040.

This long-term vision has now taken shape in the concept “Phasing Out Gas - Heating and Cooling Vienna 2040” and finally in the Vienna Heating Plan 2040 (already published in May 2024), a comprehensive roadmap that connects spatial planning, energy strategy, and social policy. The plan’s goal is clear: phase out gas and oil for heating by 2040 while ensuring energy remains reliable, affordable, and fair for all residents.

“The heat transition is not a short-term reaction to shocks. It’s a long-term structural transformation of how we build, refurbish and supply our buildings. The Vienna Heating Plan 2040 translates this vision to the spatial level.” 
Herbert Hemis, City of Vienna – Department for Energy Planning

Turning integrated planning into practice

Vienna’s approach is built on a powerful idea that was formally established as a dedicated field of work within the city administration in 2014: integrated spatial and energy planning. By linking energy policy to land use, housing, transport, and infrastructure, the city ensures that its physical development actively supports its climate and energy goals. This method specified over the years (see concept “Integrative Energy Planning” from 2018 as part of the Urban Development Plan 2025) allows Vienna to identify vulnerabilities early, coordinate across sectors, and avoid costly reactive measures later on.

Through the Smart Climate City Strategy, the Vienna Climate Guide, the Urban Development Plan 2035, and the Heating and Cooling Vienna 2040 – Phasing Out Gas plan, the city has created a coherent framework that unites climate ambitions and urban development. Within this framework, the Vienna Heating Plan 2040 serves as an operational tool, combining spatial and technical data to guide where different heating solutions are most suitable across the city.

The plan was developed by the City of Vienna - Department for Energy Planning  and Wiener Stadtwerke (Wiener Netze / Wien Energie), with support from UIV Urban Innovation Vienna, the city’s climate and innovation agency. It builds on years of collaboration fostered by different European projects (Horizon 2020 Urban Learning project , Smarter Together, Decarb City Pipes), which helped Vienna identify governance gaps and strengthen cooperation between departments and utilities.

Integration and cooperation in action

Today, Vienna’s energy and spatial planners work hand in hand with utilities, housing agencies, and local stakeholders through a shared governance structure. Detailed heat-demand maps, building typologies, and scenario analyses guide investment and ensure coherence across districts and neighbourhoods. The heat demand as well as the renewable energy potential at the building-block level are key to developing a Heating Plan.

“Integration means that every building and neighbourhood contributes to the bigger picture, not just through its emissions cuts, but through how it strengthens the resilience of the whole urban system.” 
Katharina Höftberger, UIV Urban Innovation Vienna

This coordinated approach has become a defining feature of Vienna’s energy transition, allowing infrastructure upgrades, building renovations, and urban development to move in sync and turning long-term plans into tangible progress.

Diversifying to guarantee tomorrow's energy 

The recent energy crisis showed the necessity for cities to plan ahead to reduce their dependency on imported fossil energy sources – not only to achieve their climate ambitions, but also to guarantee affordable energy sources to their citizens. Resilience in Vienna’s model also comes from diversification.  The city is replacing imported fossil fuels with a renewable heating mix based on large and small-scale heat pumps, waste-heat recovery, deep and shallow geothermal sources, and sustainable biomass.

• Dense urban areas will rely mainly on district heating, powered increasingly by renewable sources.
• Medium-density neighbourhoods will adopt local renewable networks serving several buildings (mostly based on shallow geothermal energy and waste energy).
• Low-density zones will switch to individual systems such as heat pumps (using borehole heat exchangers, ground water, air) or pellet boilers.

If fully implemented, these systems are expected to cover 100% of Vienna’s heating demand with renewable energy by 2040, reducing exposure to external shocks and securing long-term supply.
To help property owners switch to renewable heating systems, UIV manages a city-wide advisory service on behalf of the City of Vienna, offering tailored technical and financial guidance. UIV also implements the City’s “100 Projects Phasing Out Gas” initiative, which documents real-life conversions and feeds lessons back into policy design, ensuring future strategies are grounded in practice.

A fair and inclusive transition

Vienna’s energy transition is designed to be both environmentally and socially just. With over 40% of homes managed by the municipality or limited-profit developers, the city’s housing sector acts as a frontrunner for large-scale retrofits and sustainable construction.

Workforce training complements this effort. The Wien Energie technical campus and initiatives like “Öko-Booster” prepare new installers, retrofit experts, and energy specialists, ensuring that decarbonisation also drives employment.

Public participation remains a cornerstone. Free advisory services such as Hauskunft, community consultations, and local events help residents navigate energy renovations confidently and equitably.

Challenges on the road ahead

Despite strong progress, challenges remain. The Heating Plan 2040 is not legally binding, meaning its implementation relies on cooperation and voluntary uptake rather than regulation. Therefore, it is part of a bigger Phase-Out-Programme of the City of Vienna. This programme includes different departments and stakeholders which will be needed to implement the Vienna Heating Plan 2040. Figure 2 shows that many components are necessary to achieve the goals.

The decarbonisation of private buildings is advancing slowly, despite incentives and support services. Finally, the future decommissioning of Vienna’s gas network will be a major technical and financial undertaking, but one that is essential to meet the city’s 2040 target.

These hurdles underline the importance of maintaining the city’s integrated and collaborative approach, ensuring that institutions, utilities, and citizens remain aligned throughout the transition.

“A Heating Plan alone is not sufficient. For a successful transformation, each city needs to integrate it into an implementation programme and complementary instruments.” 
Herbert Hemis, City of Vienna – Department for Energy Planning

From local success to European learning

Vienna’s Heating Plan 2040 demonstrates how integrated spatial and energy planning can turn climate goals into operational strategies for resilience and security. Building on this experience, UIV contributed to the development of the IN-PLAN Practice under the EU-funded LIFE IN-PLAN project, a methodological framework that supports local and regional authorities in embedding climate and energy objectives into spatial planning and land-use decisions.

As climate and geopolitical uncertainties grow, Vienna offers a blueprint for European cities seeking to build resilient heating systems that are renewable, diversified, and people-centred, systems designed not to react to crises, but to prevent them.

“Achieving climate neutrality and ensuring resilience are not separate goals. When planning is integrated and people-centred, the same policies that cut emissions also strengthen our capacity to face an uncertain future.”
Katharina Höftberger, UIV Urban Innovation Vienna