"Hits people hard"

Government saves money primarily by reducing the number of climate tickets

Leonore Gewessler – then the minister responsible and still wearing a mask – with a sample of the "Klimaticket Ö" in 2022. Four years later, the ticket is becoming a brake on government spending.(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

The price increase for the climate ticket is intended to help balance the budget. However, a parliamentary inquiry by the Green Party reveals that the majority of the savings will not come from higher ticket prices, but from the fact that significantly fewer people are expected to buy the climate ticket due to the higher price.

As part of the austerity package, the price of the climate ticket was also drastically increased last year. From the previous €1,095 per year to €1,400 from 2026. At the time, the government defended the price increase for the climate ticket as a necessary step toward budget consolidation and emphasized that the offer should nevertheless remain attractive. However, the latest figures from the Ministry of Finance paint a different picture.

According to the response to a parliamentary question from the Green Party, the ministry expects total savings of €224.4 million between 2025 and 2029. What is striking is that only a comparatively small portion of this sum comes from the higher ticket prices themselves.

Many commuters rely on public transport and will have to dig deeper into their pockets from 2026 onwards to afford a climate ticket.(Bild: P. Huber)

The calculation only works if fewer climate tickets are sold
Specifically, the Ministry of Finance expects the price adjustment to generate additional revenue of around €56.9 million. However, this is offset by €167.5 million in savings from reduced demand.

This reduced demand arises when fewer climate tickets are sold. Since each ticket is heavily subsidized by the state, federal spending automatically decreases as soon as fewer people use the service. The budgetary impact of the price increase is therefore primarily based on declining sales figures. The savings from fewer users are almost three times higher than the additional revenue from higher ticket prices.

The government hopes that the population will return to using cars. This would allow the finance minister to save more money.

Jakob Schwarz, Budgetsprecher der Grünen

Bild: Ulrike Wieser

For the Green Party, this is a sign that the government is deliberately accepting that the climate ticket will become less attractive as a result of the price increase: "The aim of the climate ticket is to achieve savings primarily through declining sales figures – not through a reduction in government subsidies. The higher prices are deliberately intended to make the climate ticket less attractive," criticize the Greens, led by budget spokesman Jakob Schwarz: "Around 300,000 people have a climate ticket. The price increase therefore hits these people directly and hard. They now face the decision of paying more or going back to using their cars. The government hopes that they will go back to using their cars. Because then the finance minister will save more money."

Green criticism of new climate-damaging subsidy
Additional criticism has been sparked by the fact that, according to the Greens, the savings from the climate ticket are almost exactly equal to the costs incurred by other measures that are a burden on the budget. Specifically, they point to the extension of the NoVA exemption for commercial vehicles and pick-ups, which is expected to cost the state around 220 million euros. "This is particularly perfidious when you consider that we would not have had to make the climate ticket more expensive if the government had not introduced another climate-damaging subsidy. The NoVa exemption for fossil fuel commercial vehicles costs about the same as the price increase for the climate ticket saves. So the many commuters are paying for the ÖVP's clientele politics," says Schwarz.