Responsibility and Sustainability

“Acting responsibly means not just pursuing one’s own vested interests, but also taking the implications of one’s actions on others and the environment into account.”

VERBUND has been faithful to the concept of sustainability for many years. As a trailblazer in the energy transition we want to play a pioneering role by ensuring that responsible conduct towards society, the environment and the economy go hand in hand. 

For more information on responsibility see our website: https://www.verbund.com/en-at/about-verbund/responsibility

Our Contribution to SDGs

With our VERBUND’s 2030 strategy, we focus on all those SDGs which can be significantly impacted by our business activity, where we want to make an important contribution to society.

Our Ecological Commitment

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  • Generate climate- and eco-friendly electricity with a focus on hydropower, wind power and photovoltaic.
  • Provide flexible products to support energy transition.
  • Guarantee system security in the Austrian transmission grid.
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  • Focus on innovative sustainable technology and new methods of generation and electricity storage.
  • Involvement in European e-mobility projects with the aim to electrify the mobility sector.
  • R&D projects on green hydrogen generated with power from renewable sources.
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  • Discontinued coal-fired electricity generation by 2020.
  • Reduction of Scope 1 emissions by 16% until 2030 (2015-2030).
  • Reduction of Scope 3 emissions from the sale of electricity to end customers by 5% until 2030 (2020-2030).
  • Certification of all VERBUND sites to ISO 14001.
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  • Investment up to €280m by 2027 for conservation and biodiversity measures such as fish passes and restoration measures at water bodies.
  • Implementation of sustainable route management for the transmission grid.

Our Social Commitment 

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  • The VERBUND Electricity Relief Fund in cooperation with Caritas helps low-income households in Austria to reduce their energy consumption and energy costs.
  • The VERBUND Empowerment Fund run by Diakonie provides direct financial assistance for the purchase of communication aids for disabled people.
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  •  Provide attractive, secure jobs: employee turnover rate < 5%.
  • Focus on occupational safety and reduction of lost time injury frequency:LTIF ≤ 5.
  • Health Management System to promote a healthier lifestyle for all employees.
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  • Emphasis on personnel development: 40 hours of training per employee/year.
  • High quality apprenticeship programme: around 35 new apprentices each year.
  • VERBUND Climate School of the Hohe Tauern National Park enables students to strengthen their climate awareness on site and online.
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  • Advancement of women in the group: percentage of women ≥ 20% until 2025.
  • Inspiring women to enter technical professions by supporting initiatives such as the VERBUND women’s scholarship to talented female students at the TU Vienna.
  • Inclusion of people with disabilities.
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  • Speak up for human rights and respect the dignity of each individual and we firmly reject any form of child labour or forced labour.
  • Develop our business over the long term with the goal of safeguarding and ideally creating new skilled employment.
  • Innovation leader in green financing instruments.
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  • Steadily reduce sustainability risk in the supply chain (working conditions, environment, corruption, human rights).
  • Provide innovative solutions for our environmentally aware B2C and B2B customers (e.g. PV systems, e-mobility, battery storage solutions).
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  • Zero-tolerance policy towards unfair business practices and any type of corruption and bribery. Guidelines imposed by the financial markets are strictly followed.
  • Collaboration with all of our stakeholders is cooperative, fair and reliable.
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  • Participate in multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the SDGs.

Our Corporate Governance and Business Ethics Commitments

For more information on SDGs see our website: https://www.verbund.com/en-at/about-verbund/responsibility/sustainability

Our Sustainability Ratings  

We evaluate our sustainability measures on a regular basis and publish the results, which are reviewed by experts, annually. We are especially proud of the following ratings:

Sustainalytics  18.9/100 points / “Low Risk”  
ISS-ESG   „B+“ Rating / Top 3 
MSCI ESG Ratings “AAA” rating / leader category among 139 utility companies
CDP Score – Climate Change  “A-“ rating − Leadership
Ecovadis Sustainability Rating   Gold / 70 out of 100 points / among Top 3 %

 For more information on sustainability ratings see our website: https://www.verbund.com/en-at/about-verbund/responsibility/sustainability