EABG passes national council: environmental law in flux

Author: Mario Laimgruber

On June 11th, 2026 – finally, after years of work and debate – the Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG) was passed. Setting aside the numerous instances of loud political cheerleading – which is fundamentally justified, because without the enactment of this new legal regime it could not be brought to life and further improved in its upcoming practical application – and the widely disseminated and now well-known key contents (one-stop shop, overriding public interest, effective integration of planning and project approval levels, etc.), we would like to emphasize a fact that is often underrepresented in (social) media reporting:

The enactment of the EABG marks the start of a new round in a race that we have already been running for years.

In order to deliver on the promised pace, what is now needed is, on the one hand, detailed work and strong implementation in the individual procedures. On the other hand, a broader view must be taken from both an overall business standpoint and a project-specific perspective: Particularly where concrete (political and, subsequently, legal) coordinated solutions are lacking – think, for example, of the tension between nature restoration and the expansion of renewable energy – but also generally with regard to the individual dynamics of various sub-areas of environmental law, there is a need for systematic, holistic assessments and accordingly optimized implementation approaches.

We can face these challenges with confidence. Drawing on experience gained in well-established tracks, future steep curves will also be manageable. Our daily work demonstrates that we are well-equipped for this, and this is exemplified by our speaking engagements, which our team undertook on the very day the EABG was passed – which we would also like to share with you here:

Conference “Young European Law” (“Junges Europarecht”) on the topic “Internal Market x Digitalization” at the University of Vienna: Emil Nigmatullin and Cornelia Lanser chaired Panel 1 (Digital Single Market – Effectiveness and Efficiency) and Panel 2 (Artificial Intelligence – Between Transparency and Competition).

Workshop “Energy Landscape Alps” (“Energielandschaft Alpen”) at the Johannes Kepler University Linz: Wilhelm Bergthaler moderated the event and presented on “The EU Grids Package: What comes next?”; Mario Laimgruber gave a lecture on “State of the Art and Best Available Technology – A Conflict of Norms between the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVP-G) and Article 12 of the Energy Protocol?”

At the “HN Focus Discussions: Environmental Law” held at the Vienna office, the following topics were discussed: Mario Laimgruber: “Procedures in Transition – On (Non)Sense and Opportunities”; Laura Baumgartner-Viechtbauer: “Environmental Criminal Law – Directive 2024/1203/EU”; Reka Krasznai: “Circular Economy.”

In all matters, we remain at your disposal as legal counsel under both existing and new regulatory regimes and look forward to receiving your inquiries.