Community and social investments

We implement our community development projects as investments, therefore expecting each project to generate a return for our communities or society more broadly. We prioritize projects with a potential to generate long-term societal value and make a lasting change to beneficiaries’ lives. Community and social investments are aligned with SDGs and community needs identified during SIAs or with larger societal priorities (e.g., by consulting the Social Progress Index¹The Social Progress Index, developed by the Social Progress Imperative, is a comprehensive measure of real quality of life, independent of economic indicators across countries. More details can be found at: www.socialprogress.org.). We aim to implement our projects in partnership with locally active stakeholders or non-governmental organizations to ensure a maximum social return on our investment. Key OMV focus areas for our community and social investments are:²Other SDGs, such as SDG 9, 11, 15, 16 are supported to a lesser extent.

• Access to basic services
  
• Education, entrepreneurship, and employment
  
• Climate action
  

In 2019, we strengthened our management approach to community and social investments and enhanced the steering and monitoring of our contributions in cash and in kind and our management costs as well as the expected social and environmental impacts. In line with the growing importance of climate topics, we also introduced a new climate-related KPI, CO₂ equivalent saved/offset, to our community and social investment portfolio. OMV community and social investments funding is prioritized in countries with the highest socio-economic development needs and/or where we have the biggest business footprint.

• EUR 20.8 mn in community and social investments³Includes contributions in-cash, contributions in-kind, and donations; excludes related management overheads
• 258 community and social investments in 18 countries
• 1.3 mn beneficiaries reached
• 7,900 employee volunteers

2019 Investments by main SDGs and by beneficiaries

Culture and sports sponsoring

In addition to community and social investments, we also sponsor sports (e.g., soccer, ski jumping) and cultural activities. Culture, entertainment, and sports are key elements for people’s well-being. We therefore aim to make sports and cultural events accessible to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 2019, we invited more than 800 schoolchildren and children in need from our surrounding communities in Austria to a Christmas concert at the Vienna State Opera. Also in 2019, 80 kids from our Max & Lara social investment partnership attended five events, such as matches played by Rapid, an Austrian football club that we sponsor.

Corporate volunteering

The OMV Group’s employees are also encouraged to personally play an active part in sustainability initiatives, including by volunteering. We offer OMV employees opportunities to actively engage in encouraging responsible and sustainable behavior and facilitate employee engagement and involvement with charitable partners.

We have an internal mechanism to manage, report, and communicate Group-wide volunteering activities in line with specific targets according to the key focus areas for our community and social investments. In 2019, we began developing a volunteering standard, which will enhance our volunteering reporting with hours volunteered across the Group.