Neutralization Measures

We aim to reduce our carbon footprint to net zero by 2050 at the latest. While the biggest drivers on this journey will be decreasing our fossil fuel sales and increasing our zero-carbon product sales, we also recognize that neutralization measures will be necessary. Neutralization measures include, but are not limited to, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU), Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), as well as, to a very limited extent, voluntary offsetting (technological and nature-based solutions). By 2030, we aim to establish CCS capacities of around 5 mn t per year as our main neutralization measure toward achieving our targets. We will minimize the use of carbon credits for voluntary offsets as a contributor toward achieving our GHG reduction target. This is to ensure that we are not simply buying our way out of our responsibility to act on climate change and the energy transition.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

Offsetting Emissions

As a general rule, the OMV Group uses voluntary carbon offset credits only in addition to its efforts to reduce its own GHG emissions. The maximum acceptable GHG emission reduction contribution from carbon offsets to achieve our absolute 2030 and 2040 GHG targets is 5% of the total absolute required emission reduction. To achieve net zero status by 2050, which requires the maximum possible reduction of our own direct and indirect GHG emissions, carbon offsets can only be used to neutralize the remaining gross emissions that cannot be eliminated in any other way. As such, only limited options are acceptable as counting toward our GHG target achievement. These include high-integrity carbon offset credits from programs that ensure robust carbon offset project design and implementation in line with the UN SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production) and one additional environmental/social SDG, as well as those that comply with the minimum social safeguards. The detailed criteria are defined in OMV’s GHG Management Framework.

OMV offers carbon offsetting to customers and works closely with ClimatePartner, an internationally trusted service partner based in Munich. ClimatePartner selects certified carbon offset projects and ensures that OMV customers who use this option are able to contribute a dedicated amount to these projects. In 2022, the biggest contributors in terms of CO₂ offsets in our portfolio were wind and solar energy projects in India and China, and forest protection projects in Brazil. Since 2019, the OMV Group also purchased CO₂ offsets in various hydropower (5%), solar (28%), and wind (44%) energy projects in India, China, Bulgaria, and Turkey, various afforestation projects (22%) in Romania, Uganda, and Brazil, as well as a gas recovery and biogas project (2%) in Turkey. Climate protection projects are offered by ClimatePartner and are verified according to one or more of the following internationally recognized standards: Gold Standard (GS), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Certified Emission Reductions (CER), and Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standard (CCBS). None of these offsets have currently been accounted to contribute towards OMV’s GHG reduction target achievement.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Utilization (CCU)

OMV aims to capture CO₂ and ideally use it as a resource. Carbon capture and utilization technologies, such as capturing CO₂ emissions from our refineries, hydrating the CO₂, and then reusing it as fuel, are crucial to reducing overall atmospheric emissions and fostering circularity. However, achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement does not just require reducing our own emissions but also helping reduce atmospheric emissions from other sources. Thus, our CCS and CCU projects include, but are not limited to, capturing our own emissions. A key example of developing such projects with industry partners to reduce overall atmospheric emissions is the C2PAT project.

Lafarge, OMV, VERBUND, and Borealis are collaborating on developing the C2PAT initiative, which will make a significant contribution to decarbonization. The goal of C2PAT is to capture the CO₂ emitted at Lafarge’s cement plant in Mannersdorf, Austria, and, together with hydrogen from renewable sources, transform it into feedstock for sustainable chemical products. The partners intend to turn the initiative into an industrial-scale project, which should serve as a blueprint for other industries in the future, especially for the “hard to abate” sectors. For example, C2PAT aims to demonstrate a novel cross-sectoral carbon value chain on an industrial scale. Industrial CO₂ released during cement production should be captured and transformed using green hydrogen into feedstock for a variety of renewable-based chemicals and value-added plastic products. It demonstrates a circular economy approach in the cement and chemical sector given that renewable-based plastics can be reused and recycled in various recycling streams. C2PAT will explore the market potential for renewable-based products and develop models for control as well as for holistically optimizing the overall value chain.

2022 Actions

• Currently, OMV’s customers can voluntarily offset the carbon footprint resulting from using all products they purchase from us, such as diesel, gasoline, bitumen, heating oil, and natural gas. OMV GAS offers this service in all markets. We recognize the high and ever-increasing customer demand for this option. OMV Fuels Sales customers can offset their carbon footprint based on the use of gasoline or diesel, as well as extra-light heating oil and bitumen, in all countries where we operate. Customers of OMV Retail Mobility & Convenience (our filling stations) are able to offset their carbon footprint from gasoline and diesel by using the jö Bonus Club card in Austria, while since early October 2022, 20% of the carbon footprint of Romanian customers that purchase MaxxMotion fuels has been offset without surcharge. Our OMV Card customers can use their OMV Card with the Routex function to offset the carbon footprint of the diesel and gasoline they purchase. OMV’s MaxxMotion CO₂ reduction campaign in Romania supports local and international carbon offsetting projects aimed at forest protection, e.g., in Romania and Brazil. Every time a customer fuels up with OMV MaxxMotion Performance Fuels, 20% of the carbon emissions are offset through this program. In addition, when a customer chooses to donate 300 points to a charity of their choice from the OMV MyStation application, OMV automatically matches it with another 300 points, which subsequently adds up to the amount needed to plant one tree.
• In 2022, the OMV Group worked on innovative solutions to utilize captured CO₂ as an alternative feedstock. For instance, Swiss sports brand On partnered with Borealis and LanzaTech in 2021 to create CleanCloud™, a sustainability initiative using carbon emissions to create foam for running shoes. On is the first company in the footwear industry to explore carbon emissions as a primary raw material for the sole of a shoe, as part of its move away from petroleum-based resources. Technology from LanzaTech captures carbon monoxide emitted from industrial sources such as steel mills or from landfill sites. Once captured, these emissions enter a patented fermentation process, which converts the carbon-rich gas to liquid ethanol using specially selected bacteria. The ethanol is then dehydrated to create ethylene, which Borealis polymerizes to become EVA (a copolymer of ethylene vinyl acetate), the versatile and lightweight material that On starts working with to create a performance foam for shoes. In 2022, On presented the first ever shoe made from carbon emissions. Read more in the Borealis Report.

Outlook

As part of our strategy, we foresee developing CCS storage capacity of around 5 mn t per year CO₂ net at OMV by 2030, 2 mn t per year of which will be at OMV Petrom. We will also continue to explore CCU opportunities.