All but two of Austria’s 96 glaciers have shrunk over the past two years, according to a new Alpine Club report released on Friday. The findings, which cover 2024‑2025, highlight rapid glacier loss across the Alps and underscore the growing effects of climate change on the region’s water supplies, power generation and tourism.
The Alpeiner Ferner in western Tyrol and the Stubacher Sonnblickkees in Salzburg each lost more than 100 meters (about 330 feet) of ice, while the average retreat across all monitored glaciers exceeded 20 meters (65 feet). Even the Pasterze, Austria’s largest glacier, is seeing its tongue disintegrate, a visual sign of warming temperatures.
Club vice‑president Nicole Slupetzky warned that an unusually hot June last year—nearly five degrees Celsius (nine degrees Fahrenheit) above normal—combined with low snowfall to accelerate the melt. “The glaciers are melting — and with every new report, the urgency grows,” she said, adding that the focus now must shift from trying to save the glaciers in their current form to mitigating the broader consequences for people.
Glacier loss has far‑reaching implications for drinking water, hydroelectric power, agriculture, infrastructure and winter recreation throughout the Alpine region. Neighboring Switzerland, which holds Europe’s most glaciers, is experiencing a similar retreat, mirroring a global pattern of shrinking ice.
The report concludes that the long‑term trend of shrinking length, area and volume is unmistakable, calling the ongoing retreat a “wake‑up call” for policymakers and the public to address climate change more aggressively.