Community Impacts and Grievances

We acknowledge that the presence of OMV’s business has direct and indirect impacts on local communities. We aim to steer the impacts of our business activities in a positive direction by building and maintaining mutual trust and pursuing respect-based community relations, investing in local development, safeguarding human rights, and ensuring that local suppliers who work with OMV follow sustainable practices. Transparent and instant communication with local communities in order to ensure that their voices and concerns are heard and addressed helps OMV establish good relations with communities impacted by our business operations and supports us in creating a conducive operating environment for the business.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

Community Consultation and Social Impact Assessments

Our community relations and development management process is based on centralized policies and targets, and implemented by locally responsible persons with local resources. In line with our community relations and development procedure, all OMV projects require community consultation in the development phase. In 2021, one out of seven projects was in the process of community consultation.

We start by conducting a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which includes free and prior informed consultation with and consent of local stakeholders. Sometimes, an SIA is integrated into an Environmental Impact Assessment (ESIA) to foster synergies and efficiencies. The purpose of an SIA is to ensure that the views of the local communities, especially of indigenous peoples, are incorporated into and addressed throughout all phases of the project life cycle: commissioning, operation, and decommissioning or abandonment. We also pay particular attention to any possible impact on human rights.

Based on the internal regulation for conducting SIAs, we include a baseline study, community needs assessments, stakeholder analyses, and a study of social risks associated with the project. Where possible, SIAs are conducted in a participatory manner by directly consulting with potentially affected communities. Our standards require the outcomes of the SIA to be communicated to affected stakeholders. Based on the SIA’s outcome, site-specific strategies for community relations and development, stakeholder engagement plans as well as Community Grievance Mechanisms are developed and implemented.

Community Engagement

We maintain regular communication with the communities where we operate and strive to inform them in advance of any planned business activities that may affect them. For example, in the vicinity of our refineries, stakeholders such as local authorities and neighbors are proactively informed in advance of work that may cause a disturbance, such as noise from turnarounds, by way of stakeholder meetings, social media, leaflets, and other channels as appropriate. For instance, the “green phone” at the Schwechat refinery has ensured 24/7 direct contact for all neighbors for years now. Each individual call is answered by the shift supervisor in charge and in cases of perception of noise or odor, the shift supervisor checks immediately for potential sources in the refinery so that the issue can be solved as soon as possible.

When plants are decommissioned, or we exit a location, our community relations team ensures that potential social impacts are addressed by drawing up targeted community engagement plans, social impact assessment and management plans, and exit strategies for ongoing community development projects.

Community Grievance Mechanisms

Our approach to managing community grievances follows the precautionary principle of ensuring local approval for OMV operations by identifying and resolving the issues of concern to the local community early on. We strive to conduct our operations in a way that reduces any disruption to our neighboring communities to a minimum; however, grievances may still arise. We manage these grievances through localized Community Grievance Mechanisms (CGMs). At OMV, a CGM is a key tool for preventing and managing our potential impacts on local communities and related social risks.

The CGM stipulates a stringent approach to systematically receiving, documenting, addressing, and resolving grievances in all of the countries where we operate, therefore laying the foundation for our social license to operate. We define a grievance as an expression of dissatisfaction stemming from a real or perceived impact of the Company’s business activities. Our grievance management system is based on dialogue with our stakeholders first and foremost and is designed to prevent any retaliation risks. The CGM helps OMV and those potentially impacted by its operations resolve issues without resorting to the legal system. However, OMV’s CGM does not hinder or prevent affected stakeholders, including local communities, from accessing judicial or other remedies for their complaints or grievances. The CGM offers a channel for resolving grievances out of court and, depending on the case, provides a remedy to community members. (For more information on our approach to community grievance management, see the OMV website.)

The CGM remained fully operational in all operated E&P assets, in the three OMV refineries, (Schwechat in Austria, Burghausen in Germany, and Petrobrazi in Romania), and at one power plant (Brazi in Romania) in 2021. A Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM) is in place at SapuraOMV. Borealis is still in the transition phase to implementing OMV’s community relations management regulations. Borealis has a hotline system where grievances can be addressed by internal and external stakeholders.

In the interest of full alignment with IPIECA’s best practice for grievance management, OMV has set a target to assess the CGMs at all of its sites against the UN Effectiveness Criteria for Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms by 2025. The UN Effectiveness Criteria require the grievance mechanism to be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, a source of continuous learning, and based on engagement and dialogue.

The alignment of CGMs with the UN Effectiveness Criteria is assessed by conducting a review of management processes and consulting with internal and external stakeholders. The assessments result in recommendations and tailored action plans to improve grievance management at site level. The action plans are implemented by local management and monitored by the Corporate function. The sites already assessed account for 99% of all registered grievances at OMV in 2021. In 2019 and 2020, such assessments were completed in, for example, New Zealand, Malaysia, and E&P Austria, where follow-up actions are in the process of being implemented as per the findings.

2021 Actions

In 2021, the following key improvements were made to the CGMs:

• OMV Petrom’s Petrobrazi refinery CGM procedure and E&P OMV Petrom’s CGM procedure have been reviewed based on the Company’s new community grievance management standards in recent years. A new CGM database has been developed and implemented to ensure the traceability and predictability of grievance management. In 2021, the Petrobrazi refinery also stepped up its external outreach to local communities by enhancing the call center service that facilitates the communication between the Petrobrazi refinery and all stakeholders interested in submitting complaints or requesting information. The optimal functioning of the call center service is very important in managing the community grievances in order to strengthen the relationships between the refinery and the local community.
• The Schwechat and Burghausen refineries further improved their public information on local accessibility of the CGM. For instance, Schwechat linked the green phone prominently on its homepage.
• In 2021, SapuraOMV signed the Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM), which defines the process that must be followed when written or oral complaints, or other types of feedback are received. Furthermore the “We Care” portal is up and running. We Care is an e-portal that allows users to register feedback, receive an immediate acknowledgement, and be offered appropriate follow-up measures, while being treated with respect and ensuring their identity is protected, in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.
• New Zealand completed an external review of its CGM in 2021.
• At E&P Austria, a CGM standard was communicated and published on the website along with an internal reporting tool implemented to ensure consistency, structure, and greater predictability in handling community grievances.

Outlook

We will take the following actions in the coming years to continue to improve our community grievances approach:

• Currently, 87% of OMV’s grievances stem from E&P OMV Petrom. In 2022, a detailed assessment will therefore be conducted at E&P OMV Petrom to analyze the root causes of grievances with the aim of decreasing their number. The assessment will start with Asset III Muntenia Vest.
• At the Petrobrazi refinery, where the CGM was analyzed in 2018, the newly implemented call center service, which is available 24/7, will continue to be rolled out in Prahova county communities in 2022. An assessment of the results will be completed after one year of implementation.
• A unique communication concept is planned for the Schwechat refinery in 2022 and 2023, including direct mail from residents, communication training for the shift supervisors for the green phone, and a link to the green phone on the refinery’s homepage.
• In 2022, we plan to launch the “We Care” portal on SapuraOMV’s website and to roll it out in all operations in Malaysia.
• At Borealis, our first step will be to conduct a self-assessment, after which they will be able to create a baseline for the organization’s CGM alignment with the UN Effectiveness Criteria.

Target 2025

• Assess Community Grievance Mechanisms of all sites against UN Effectiveness Criteria⁵ Nine defined assets on a 100% operator/majority-owned basis from the E&P, Refining, and Power business segments are currently in scope (scope liable to change based on operatorship/divestments). The scope was previously ten assets, but changed to nine in 2021 due to the divestment of assets in Kazakhstan.

Status 2021

• 7 out 9 sites in scope assessed. In 2021, the focus was on developing the Community Feedback Mechanism at SapuraOMV.

Relevant SDGs

SDG targets:
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels