Our Sustainability Policy
Sustainability is at the core of the VERBUND brand: We strive for excellent economic and environmental performance at all stages of the value creation process for energy and energy-related services, thus creating additional value for our customers and other stakeholders.
We evaluate our sustainability measures on a regular basis and publish the results, which are reviewed by experts, annually.
Environment
In Austria as well as internationally we rely on hydropower and wind as energy sources for electricity generation. We constantly strive to further reduce our emissions. With our high-capacity transmission grid and pumped storage power plants, we make it possible to integrate new renewable energy sources.
We avoid creating, or at least reduce, any ecological impact of our facilities and optimise environmental management at all our sites.
Standardised environmental data management throughout our company creates a sound basis for making decisions regarding our projects. We do everything we can to conserve energy and use electricity efficiently, not only within our company, but also in the wider community by providing information and innovative solutions.
Our climate change initiatives are based on specific key performance indicators and targets. In our research, we focus on helping to shape the energy systems of the future by developing innovative and forward-looking solutions.
Economy
Climate- and eco-friendly electricity generation is the backbone of our economic success.
We are growing in Austria and Germany on the basis of our core competency: electricity at all levels of value creation. Our activities increase productivity in many areas of life and contribute to regional value creation. Careful management and proactive cost management in our projects and processes enable us to improve efficiency and maintain our competitiveness.
We subscribe to fair business practices and the principles of sustainability. We also expect these qualities in our suppliers and other business partners.
Society
We assume responsibility towards people and society, for whom electricity is an important factor in the quality of life.
We communicate actively, openly and respectfully with interest groups from all areas of society. We listen and provide extensive information. Our success lies in providing customer-oriented services with an ecological focus and competent, friendly support.
We offer all our employees attractive, secure jobs, and attach great importance to maintaining and developing their expertise. Our workforce is entitled to statutory codetermination rights, and we adhere to the International Labour Organisation’s standards. Occupational health and safety are also extremely important to us. Our comprehensive apprentice training ensures that we will have skilled workers in the future. By fostering employee diversity, we bring different points of view to the Group.
We also assume social responsibility by supporting charitable organisations and passing on our knowledge to schools and universities.
Our contribution to global sustainability Goals
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 are the global target framework for sustainable development. We focus our commitment on all those SDGs which can be significantly impacted by our business activity. We see especially SDG 7 "Affordable and clean energy" as a core mission in the spirit of our corporate vision "Giving energy to the future with clean electricity and innovative solutions."
In the brochure "Responsible Energy" (German only) we introduce our specific contributions to the SDGs.
VERBUND is a signatory of the UN Global Compact and supports the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. We are committed to making the UN Global Compact and its principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company.
ONR 192500 certification – CSR management system
In order to systematically anchor the concept of sustainability within the Group, VERBUND has
implemented a CSR management system in accordance with the requirements of ONR 192500 (Social
Responsibility of Organisations, German only). ONR 192500 is the Austrian standard implementing the international
ISO 26000 standard for corporate social responsibility.
Annual Reporting
We publish the results of our sustainability measures in annual reports according to the GRI guidelines. From 2002 to 2014 these are in the form of a VERBUND Sustainability Report, starting in 2015 as part of the Integrated VERBUND Annual Report. This report is at the same time our Communication on Progress (COP) that describes our company’s efforts to implement the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.
All published reports may be found on the page Reports.
VERBUND in Sustainability Indexes and Ratings
In the current company rating from ISS ESG VERBUND was rated with the overall grade "B", which confirmed once again our recommendation as a Prime Investment for investors with sustainability standards. The extensive reporting of environmental indicators was particularly praised. With this rating, VERBUND is one of the three best placed companies from a total of 178 in this sector.
VERBUND has been awarded a GOLD-Status CSR rating in the supplier evaluation programme EcoVadis and is among the top 5% of 20,000 evaluated companies.
SUSTAINALYTICS ranks VERBUND in the top segment of around 500 evaluated companies in its industry sector based on the strong management of ESG Risk.
As of 31.12.2017, VERBUND was a member of the following sustainability indexes:
