Gas continues to play an important role in Austria's energy mix. 21.8% of Austria's gross domestic energy consumption is covered by gas. Together with oil (36.7%) and coal (8.2%), the share of fossil fuels is around 67%. The combustion of fossil fuels generates high levels of CO2 emissions and thus drives the climate crisis. In order to achieve the climate goal set by the Austrian federal government itself - a climate-neutral Austria by 2040 - there must also be no more emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels by 2040. The current 67% percent of carbon-intensive energy sources in the energy mix must be replaced by renewable energies in order to achieve the Paris climate targets.
Gas is increasingly being presented as a potential solution to the climate crisis. Yet gas still causes significant climate-damaging CO2 emissions when burned. In addition, so-called methane leaks - meaning large quantities of methane escape directly into the air - occurs. This happens primarily in the upstream sector during the extraction of oil and gas, but also during the transportation and storage of fossil gas. Since methane is around 25 times more damaging to the climate than CO2, this has a major impact on the climate crisis. OMV's methane emissions also vary widely per year: in 2019, 49,376 metric tons of methane emissions were reported; converted into CO2 equivalents, that's 1.23 million metric tons per year. That is as much as 630,000 cars cause per year, which is just less than all the passenger cars registered in Vienna.
One thing is clear: it will not be possible to phase out gas tomorrow. And no one is calling for that. But the course must be set now and OMV must exit the gas business gradually and ambitiously by 2040. Currently, however, OMV's plan looks exactly different. The total production volume of oil and gas is to be increased by 2025. Gas is to take an even larger share in the product portfolio. The main problem here is that infrastructure built today must remain in use for decades in order to be profitable. Every pipeline and every gas field that is developed today leads to an unsustainable future - this must be prevented.