Materiality and Stakeholders

OMV identifies material content for the Sustainability Report in an extensive and structured process of consultation with the Company’s external and internal stakeholders.

In 2020, OMV updated the materiality analysis of sustainability topics in compliance with the legal requirements related to the disclosure of non-financial information in Austria (Nachhaltigkeits- und Diversitätsverbesserungsgesetz; NaDiVeG) and the GRI Standards. Considering stakeholder interests, the significant external economic, environmental, and social impacts of OMV’s business as well as the financial materiality and business relevance of these topics to OMV were essential to this process. Impacts (both by OMV and on OMV) and the relevance to stakeholders were considered across the entire OMV value chain (Upstream, Downstream, Corporate). In order to maintain an objective and independent view on the material topics, we conducted this process together with an external party. The extensive materiality analysis involving internal and external stakeholders will be repeated every three years, or if significant changes in the business or market environment occur.

The 2020 analysis reflects updates in sustainability reporting standards (e.g., GRI, SASB, IPIECA, EU Guidelines on Non-Financial Reporting), existing or forthcoming regulations and policies (e.g., EU Green Deal, including the Circular Economy Action Plan) as well as emerging sector trends. Sustainability topics covered in peer reports, including peers from both the oil and gas and petrochemicals sectors, were also taken into account. To reflect the pending acquisition of Borealis, which was completed after the materiality assessment was conducted, material topics from Borealis’ materiality assessment in 2019 were included.

Following desk research and the internal identification of impacts through workshops and expert consultation, a long list of 46 sustainability aspects was developed and clustered into eight topics: Health, Safety, and Security; Climate Change and Energy Transition; Economic Impacts and Business Principles; Employees; Circular Economy; Environment; Human Rights and Communities; Supply Chain. In Borealis’ 2019 materiality analysis, four core topics were identified: Climate Change; Circular Economy; Plastic Waste and Management; Product Sustainability. Circular Economy was identified as a new potential individual material topic by OMV experts. Climate Change was considered to be covered by the topic Climate Change and Energy Transition. Plastic Waste and Management was considered to be part of an aspect under Environment (waste management), and Product Sustainability was deemed an aspect under Health, Safety, and Security (product safety).

Three online surveys were then conducted during September/October 2020 to prioritize the sustainability topics and aspects from a stakeholder perspective (by internal/external stakeholders), external impact perspective (by internal experts), and business relevance perspective (by OMV managers). A total of 225 responses were submitted. The stakeholder groups engaged in the materiality analysis 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.

The results of the topic prioritization were consolidated into a materiality matrix with the three dimensions stakeholder relevance, impact, and business relevance. All eight sustainability topics were deemed to be material as they rank between 3 (important) and 5 (extremely important) on a scale from 1 to 5. Within the topics, the underlying aspects were further prioritized based on their ranking within and across topics. All NaDiVeG-related aspects were considered particularly relevant. Based on this approach, a total of 20 aspects were identified as particularly relevant. (For more information, see Material Topics.)

The results of the analysis were acknowledged by the OMV Executive Board. For reporting purposes, the eight topics have been clustered into five major groups that also correspond to the Sustainability Strategy: Health, Safety, Security, and Environment encompasses the material topic Health, Safety, and Security and the material topic Environment; Carbon Efficiency encompasses the material topic Climate Change and Energy Transition; Innovation encompasses the material topic Circular Economy; Employees encompasses the material topic Employees; Business Principles and Social Responsibility encompasses the material topics Economic Impacts and Business Principles, Supply Chain, and Human Rights and Communities. In this Report, we disclose in detail the eight material topics and the underlying aspects that are viewed as being most material to OMV and our stakeholders. We also continue to report on other topics to a lesser extent.