CEO Statement

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This was an exceptionally difficult year that challenged all of us in many ways. At the start of 2020, I never imagined I would be writing this statement in the midst of a pandemic, with almost all of our employees working remotely and facing entirely new ways of working. But this year has also shown how resilient, inventive, and innovative OMV’s employees are – and our Company is. Despite a very difficult operating and market environment, OMV achieved major milestones this year and took steps to fundamentally transform our Company.

In acquiring a majority stake in Borealis, we have overnight become the number one producer of ethylene and propylene in Europe and one of the top ten polyolefin producers worldwide. Global demand for petrochemicals and plastics is growing rapidly. Not only are we making our portfolio resilient with this move, but we are investing in a sustainable future. High-quality plastics are essential to daily life, for instance being used in life-saving medical equipment, and are also necessary for a low-carbon future. They are found in everything from solar panels to wind turbines to electric vehicles. And we are committed to becoming a leading player in the circular economy, recycling plastics for reuse and reducing impacts on the environment and climate.  With its sustainable business model, OMV is excellently positioned in a broadly decarbonized world, and will help shape and enable it.

This year, OMV also committed for the first time to becoming carbon-neutral in its operations by 2050 and thus significantly contributing to the goals of the Paris Agreement. This is a major step and will require innovation, new technologies, and hard work across our business. I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with so many colleagues who work tirelessly to optimize our operations and creatively find new ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Despite a difficult environment, we continued to do business responsibly, and develop and implement new sustainability initiatives across departments in 2020. For this, we were rewarded with our highest ever scores in multiple leading environmental, social, and governance ratings. As we transform our Company, we are committed to upholding the high standards we have set ourselves in terms of sustainability and continuously improving on our performance. For instance, this year our occupational safety performance was again exceptional, and we had our lowest ever total recordable injury rate. While no occupational fatalities occurred in 2020, we tragically lost several members of the OMV family to COVID-19. My deepest sympathies go out to their families.

We are deeply committed to safeguarding the well-being of our employees and communities amidst the pandemic, not least by securing the energy supply. OMV will remain resilient as a company, during the pandemic but also beyond it. And we will continue to put forth every effort to do business responsibly and innovatively to ensure a secure and sustainable future.