In a few days, on 4th July, the Host City for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014 will be elected in Guatemala City. The preparations for the crucial day have got into top gear both in Salzburg and Guatemala. The first Salzburg 2014 delegates will start their journey to Central America on 22nd June. By the beginning of July, all 60 delegates - headed by the Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer - will have arrived in Guatemala City.

And there is no doubt: the journey to Guatemala will – due to the emissions from the air traffic – have a negative effect on the global greenhouse development. Therefore, Salzburg 2014 has decided to send a clear signal by compensating for the journey and neutralising the CO2 emissions caused by the approximately 60 delegates travelling to the final decision in Guatemala. The Austrian Ecology Institute, a partner of the worldwide climate protection organisation ‘myclimate’, created a climate footprint and calculated 348 tons of CO2 emissions. In cooperation with the Salzburg 2014 partner OMV Future Energy Fund, a possibility was developed to neutralise these CO2 emissions.

‘With the support of the OMV Future Energy Fund GmbH, the Salzburg 2014 Bid will make an adequate financial contribution to restore and expand an old, hardly working hydroelectric power plant in Indonesia. As far as possible, the existing infrastructure will be used as a basis. There will be no additional burden for the environment, and the people will benefit from new jobs and training possibilities. The project will soon be awarded with the ‘Gold Standard’. Developed by global environmental organisations, such as the WWF, this certificate guarantees that the project is linked with a positive environmental footprint and a sustainable development on a local level’, explains Manfred Koblmueller of the Austrian Ecology Institute.

Rudolf Hoeller, Executive Director Salzburg 2014, explains, ‘Salzburg 2014 takes on its global responsibility for environmental protection. Based on the signalling effect of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salzburg, it is our aim to promote - also in other regions - pioneering pilot projects, such as the use of biomass or solar house technology. We will also invite the international associations and the partners and sponsors to make a contribution to climate protection. That way, the Olympic Movement will become a driving force for an ecological and sustainable development.’

The OMV Future Energy Fund GmbH is a partner of the Salzburg Bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014. ‘Climate change and energy supply are a challenge for us. We are happy to support the Salzburg Bid for the Winter Games 2014 and, at the same time, contribute to the development of renewable-energy and energy-efficient projects’, explains Dorothea Sulzbacher, Executive Director of OMV Future Energy Fund GmbH.
The company was founded in June 2006 to financially support projects dealing with renewable energies with more than EUR 100 million. That way, OMV is initiating the transfer from a pure oil and gas company to an energy company with renewable energies in its portfolio. Another initiative of the company with the aim to protect the climate is based in the sponsoring area, which supports the renewable- energy and energy-efficient projects by purchasing CO2 certificates. One example is the OMV World Ralley Team which is since 2007 the first CO2 neutral team in the FIA World Rally Championship.

In case Salzburg 2014 is elected to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014, it would set further environmental signals. As part of “Sustainable Olympiade”, cities and regions from all over the world would be invited to exchange their experiences in climate protection, renewable energy supply and the environmentally sound development of tourism. Salzburg would like to pass on its knowledge to those alpine regions that will have to face new economic and infrastructural challenges in the future.

And during the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Salzburg 2014 would, of course, also set further signals for the environment, the third pillar of the Olympic Movement: 75 % of the visitors would use public transport or shuttle systems equipped with CO2-neutral power engines. The highest standards with regard to energy efficiency and heat insulation are guaranteed at all venues of the Winter Games. And the energy supply is exemplary, too: More than 80 % of Salzburg’s demand for electric energy is satisfied with renewable energies, mainly from hydroelectric power plants, with one fifth of all homes in the Province of Salzburg being heated with climate-neutral energies, such as biomass or solar technology.