What are the material issues the company has identified? 

In its 2020 Sustainability Report OMV identified a range of material issues, such as expansion of new energy solutions, spills management, talent attraction and retention, asset integrity and process safety, diversity, inclusion, and non-discrimination. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for OMV.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards              

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups OMV engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Capital market participants	·      Regular reports and presentations ·      Roadshows ·      Annual General Meetings ·      Conferences ·      Socially responsible investor (SRI) meetings
Customers	·      Advertising ·      Events
Employees	·      Townhall events ·      Small update events with an Executive Board member ·      Internal newsletters ·      Infoscreens ·      Intranet ·      Internal blog
Governmental authorities	·      Information exchange ·      Relationship management ·      Regular reporting (as required by law)
Industry associations	·      Information exchange and regular contact with industry associations
Local communities	·      Sustainability projects, sponsorships, and donations ·      Grievance mechanisms
Media	·      Press releases and conferences ·      Interviews
NGOs/NPOs	·      Social projects, sponsorships, and donations ·      Stakeholder dialogue and grievance mechanisms
Peer companies, competitors, joint venture and other business partners	·      Industry meetings ·      Contracts ·      Participation in working groups such as IPIECA, IOGP
Scientific and research institutions	·      Joint projects with industry partners, scientific organisations, and universities ·      Conferences and lectures
Suppliers and contractors	·      Negotiations and contracts ·      Supplier audits and assessments ·      Supplier events

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics OMV conducted online surveys among its stakeholders, with a total of 225 responses received. The stakeholder groups engaged were OMV employees, NGOs/NPOs, governmental authorities, media, capital market participants, suppliers and contractors, customers, joint venture and other business partners, competitors, scientific and research institutions, industry associations, and local communities.

What actions were taken by OMV to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2020 Sustainability Report OMV reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees and suppliers
• In 2020, OMV paid EUR 1,308 mn for employee wages and benefits and EUR 15,607 mn to suppliers.

• Creating economic value for capital providers and shareholders
• In 2020, OMV paid EUR 371 mn to capital providers (interest expense and other financial result) and EUR 879 mn to shareholders and hybrid capital holders (dividend distribution).

• Create economic value for society
• In 2020, OMV paid EUR 15 mn in social spending.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
References:

This case study is based on published information by OMV, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.omv.com/services/downloads/00/omv.com/1522200880397/dload_sustainability_report_2020_EN

Note to OMV: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.