Sustainability at the
Salzburg Festival

© SF/Neumayr/Leo

‘We are delighted that we were able to achieve this first milestone in our sustainability efforts within a year thanks to the extraordinary commitment of our employees, and that we even significantly exceeded the target criteria. We are taking important steps here to ensure that future generations can also experience art and culture,’ says Lukas Crepaz on behalf of the board of directors and all employees of The Salzburg Festival Foundation.

The award was presented during the festival season by Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler and State Secretary for Art and Culture Andrea Mayer.

“The award for The Salzburg Festival Foundation shows that environmentally conscious action can be implemented in every industry and every sector. We can be very proud that one of our country’s cultural flagships is setting a good example here. Art and culture have the ability to ask big questions and develop big visions. It is precisely this vision that we need to accomplish one of our most important tasks: shaping a climate-friendly future. We can only achieve this together with institutions such as the Salzburg Festival, which are committed to climate and environmental protection and thus make an important contribution to securing our ecological foundations,” said Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler.

“I am delighted that the Salzburg Festival has now been awarded the Austrian Ecolabel. This award recognises not only the outstanding cultural significance of the festival, but also its pioneering role in addressing the current challenges of our time. Art and culture have the unique ability to touch people deeply on an emotional level. This is precisely why they have a special power to raise awareness of the burning issues of our time in society and to initiate a movement towards a more environmentally conscious future. The Salzburg Festival, an important place for social reflection, impressively demonstrates how cultural institutions can take responsibility and inspire other sectors to shape a more environmentally conscious future,” said State Secretary for Art and Culture Andrea Mayer.

The Austrian Ecolabel (ÖUZ) has been awarded by the Ministry of the Environment since 1990 and is the most important state-certified environmental seal in Austria, representing a consistent focus on environmental protection and sustainability. Since 2022, certification has been available for spoken and musical theatre. The Salzburg Festival Foundation is one of the first theatre companies to have been awarded this certification since then.

The process initiated with the certification also represents a significant step for the Festival District 2030 project of the century. This renovation and expansion will make event operations sustainable for numerous cultural institutions that rent the festival halls.

The next steps after fulfilling the basic criteria are the development and implementation of a sustainability strategy for the continuous improvement of measures in the area of CO2 reduction and the setting of emission targets. In addition, as part of the major Festival District 2030 project, the individual buildings are to be certified according to Klimaaktiv and ÖGNI-ÖGNB GOLD standards, thus accommodating climate-friendly cultural operations.

Examples of measures:

• Energy-efficient, environmentally friendly cooling using water from the Almkanal canal.
• Use of energy-saving appliances and energy-saving lighting technology.
• Heat regulation within rooms and heat recovery in ventilation and air conditioning systems.
• Support for climate-friendly transport: bus shuttle from Salzburg to the Perner-Insel Hallein venue; festival ticket as a ticket for public transport throughout the province
• Water dispensers and filling stations for drinking water, exclusively reusable beverage bottles for all employees and artists
• Sustainably certified laundry, dishwashing and cleaning detergents in bulk containers
• 100% of electricity sourced from Austrian certificates of origin
• Cooperation with certified external catering service providers

The Salzburg Festival Foundation has thus acquired the right to label the Salzburg Festival District location: Großes Festspielhaus – Haus für Mozart – Felsenreitschule, Hofstallgasse 1, 5020 Salzburg with the Austrian Ecolabel. Marcus Piso and Nathalie Prasser are responsible for project management for the certification. They were supported by Erwin Bernsteiner from the Office for Environmental Issues as an external consultant.