About Us

ÖKOBÜRO is the Alliance of the
Austrian Environmental Movement.

It consists of 21 Austrian organizations engaged in environmental, nature, and animal protection like GLOBAL 2000 (Friends of the Earth Austria), FOUR PAWS, BirdLife Austria and WWF Austria.

ÖKOBÜRO works politically and legally for environmental protection and the alliance of the environmental movement. We provide our members and other environmental practitioners with our expertise in environmental law, public participation and in solving political problems.

ÖKOBÜRO applies its competences mainly in four main topics:

1. We reinforce environmental law.

We develop solutions as to how the law must be designed in order to effectively protect the environment. Particular attention is paid to ensuring that environmental procedures such as the EIA operate well, that environmental organisations can participate in these procedures and that such organisations can bring violations of environmental law before the courts.

2. We find strategic solutions for conflicts of usage.

Our environment is a habitat for people, animals and plants – we use it for recreation, for agriculture, we integrate all our infrastructures such as settlements or roads into it, and much more.

Protecting the environment can sometimes come into conflict with the different ways in which it is used. When that happens, ÖKOBÜRO organises stakeholder processes: we work at a strategic level with the various interest groups to find a consensus that both protects the environment and enables other uses. One example of this are the measures we have developed to minimise the environmental impact of the expansion of renewable energies.

3.    We challenge policy-makers to create a sustainable society.

ÖKOBÜRO co-founded the platform SDG Watch Austria to act as a united voice of civil society with the aim of driving forward the goal of achieving a sustainable society. An international compass pointing towards an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable world has already been agreed – the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) are among these compass points.

All UN member states have pledged to follow this path towards a sustainable future. For Austria to achieve these 17 goals, the government and parliament must set the course accordingly.

4. We speak up for the rights of civil society.

The environmental movement can only successfully pursue its goals if it is allowed to develop freely. To this end, it makes use of fundamental rights such as freedom of the media and freedom of assembly. On the other hand, it contributes its knowledge and makes proposals for legislation. ÖKOBÜRO is therefore committed to ensuring that civil society can participate effectively in legislation, that government information is made as accessible as possible and that the freedom of civil society is preserved.

To achieve this...

• we represent the interests of the environmental movement in the political arena;
• we enter into alliances that go far beyond the environmental sphere;
• we publish analyses, specialist articles, studies and opinions on draft laws and environmental problems;
• we address important environmental issues at our conferences;
• we solve concrete problems together in our workshops for environmental protection organisations, administration and other stakeholders, and share our knowledge in a targeted manner;
• we inform the public through our newsletters and brochures;
• our environmental law team advises environmental protection organisations, citizens’ initiatives and individuals free of charge.