Case study: Project ECOPROFIT: Difference between revisions

The city of Graz, the capital of Styria, is the second largest city in Austria and economic heart of the province of Styria. About 40% of Styria's GDP is produced in Graz and its surroundings. The Styrian capital is nowadays increasingly renowned for its examplary efforts for sustainable development but in the early 1990s the city of Graz experienced serious problems with its air quality and the environmental situation reached a critical point.

In response, the Environmental Agency of the city of Graz and the University of Graz cooperated in developing a local initiative. The result in 1991 was the ÖKOPROFIT (ÖKOlogistics PROjekt Für Integriete Umwelt-Technik), the ECOPROFIT (ECOlogical PROject For Integrated environmental Technology), an environmental program that aims to help local communities achieve sustainable economic development through improving the eco-efficiency of enterprises. ÖKOPROFIT was developed by STENUM from 1992 to 1993 on behalf of the city of Graz. The model developed in Graz has been adopted by towns and municipalities all over Austria and abroad and for instance, it was implemented for the first time in Germany as part of the Munich Agenda 21.