Renovation bonus and 'out of oil and gas' promotion campaign

Sanierungsbonus und 'Raus aus Öl und Gas' Förderaktion

Country	Austria , applies nationwide
Time period	Temporary, 01 January 2009 – 31 December 2024
Context	Green Transition
Type	Other initiatives or policies
Category	Promoting the economic, labour market and social recovery into a green future – Retrofitting buildings
Author	Bernadette Allinger (Forba) and Eurofound
Measure added	27 November 2023 (updated 23 September 2025)

Background information

Since 2009, the Austrian government has annually (with the exemption of 2010) issued funds for thermal renovation (e.g. replacement of windows, insulation of facades or conversion of heating systems to renewable energies). Private individuals can apply for these funds which cover parts of the costs. The budget is adjusted and newly decided annually - on a first come, first serve basis until the funds have been exhausted.

In addition, a "Get out of oil" funding campaign was started in 2021 as part of the nationwide renovation campaign by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK). This should facilitate a switch from fossil fuel-powered room heating systems to sustainable heating systems.

Content of measure

The purpose of the renovation bonus campaign is to promote thermal building renovations to reduce energy consumption for heating (and air conditioning) and, as a result, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Funds are available for commercial and private buildings, including multi-storey residential buildings.

The following services which are admitted to funding:

insulation of the exterior walls, the upper floor ceiling and the roof;
insulation of the lowest floor ceiling or the floor adjacent to the ground;
renovation or replacement of windows and exterior doors.

The building to be renovated must be at least 20 years old. The amount of funding depends on the scope of the refurbishment measures implemented. The submission of an energy performance certificate or renovation concept is mandatory. The funding is awarded in the form of a one-off, non-repayable investment cost subsidy and amounts to a maximum of 50 percent of the eligible investment costs. The subsidy amounts to between €3,000 and €14,000, depending on the type of renovation. If insulation material made from renewable raw materials is used, a supplement may also be granted.

The 'Raus aus Öl und Gas' ('Get out of oil and gas') funding campaign has also been prolonged into 2023 and 2024. In Austria, there are still around 840,000 gas heating systems, 500,000 oil heating systems and 80,000 heating systems using coke or coal in operation. The funding campaign aims towards replacing these with environmentally more friendly systems.

In total, a budget of €940 million is available for private individuals and businesses for the "Out of oil and gas" campaign and the 2023/2024 renovation campaign.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

31 August 2025

The subsidy for 2024 came about as an alternative to the plan to phase out oil and gas heating systems completely: A draft law proposed by the then Green Climate Ministry proposed the gradual replacement of all fossil heating systems in Austria by 2040. However, this was opposed by its coalition partner and the opposition, so that the compromise reached was that instead of a legal framework, the replacement of heating systems would be funded largely by subsidies. The current environmental minister and the energy state secretary, both of the conservative People's Party ÖVP, have now criticised the subsidies as being far too high and innefficient (based on a study they commissioned) and announced that subsidies would be available again in 2026, but significantly reduced (from up to 75% to around 30%). Also, funds will be awarded according to new criteria. In total, a maximum of €360 million would be available annually from 2026 onwards (compared to around €1.4 billion in 2024). The new plans for the replacement heating system replacements also does not fit with the goal of climate neutrality by 2040 any more. The current minister's goal is to promote 30,000 boiler replacements annually; in 2024, however, the number was just under 80,000 - a number that is necessary in order to achieve the climate targets. Critics have stated that with such a significant reduction, the climate target would be abandoned. At the same time, failure to meet the climate targets may be more expensive than more generous funding of boiler replacements.

01 January 2025

Due to budgetary constraints (excessive deficit procedure), the newly appointed federal government decided not to prolong the very popular renovation bonus and 'out of oil and gas' promotion, which had been in place since 2009.

Use of measure

In 2023, there were 40,000 applications for funding. Within the first months of 2024 (from January to mid-April), there were already 32,000 funding applications. All funding was exhausted shortly before the end of 2024. In total, within the last five years, €2.3 billion were funded for 200,000 projects.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

Unknown
Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Unknown.

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