Integrated sustainability strategy

The integrated sustainability strategy of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) provides an overview of policies that individual departments as well as subsidiaries have already put in place to address sustainability issues. The latter are broken down into the ESG factors environmental, social and governance. This strategy encapsulates corporate priorities such as environmental policy and equality.
The OeNB’s vision, mission and values reflect its commitment to sustainability. When pursuing ESG goals, the OeNB takes into account its overall strategy and mandate as well as economic conditions and risks.

Ecological sustainability
In 1998, the OeNB implemented an environmental management system in accordance with the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). This system helps the OeNB improve its environmental performance by reducing its carbon footprint as much as possible. The OeNB supports the goals of both the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and the European Green Deal. As a fast follower, the OeNB has been keen to transition to an environmentally friendly circular economy. This is why its operational ecology agenda prioritizes reducing pollution and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Striving to make its operational activities fully carbon neutral, the OeNB has been implementing dedicated projects aimed at becoming a climate neutral enterprise by 2040 (see box). The current focus areas are reducing energy use, renewable energy sources, mobility and procurement.

Reserve management
As an integral part of the Eurosystem, the OeNB contributes to implementing the European Central Bank’s action plan to include climate change considerations in its monetary policy strategy.
In compliance with common Eurosystem standards, the OeNB discloses information on climate-related aspects of its nonmonetary policy portfolios.

Stakeholder interests in climate change
The OeNB supports financial institutions in dealing with the risks and opportunities arising from climate change.

Green Finance Platform
Climate change and climate protection relate to several tasks laid down in the Eurosystem’s mandate, namely price stability, financial stability and general economic policy.
The OeNB’s Green Finance Platform supports the in-house exchange of information on relevant internal and external activities and developments related to green finance.

Statistics
The OeNB is developing and integrating sustainability-related statistical data, in particular regarding loans and securities in the financial sector. This way, it seeks to advance developments in this area at the European level. Such additional data are meant to feed into new sustainability indicators, enrich data analysis and help adapt and expand the OeNB’s publications portfolio.

Management of equity interests
A dedicated OeNB division coordinates the exchange of information with the OeNB’s subsidiaries to agree on a common basic understanding of how to implement sustainability policy and climate reporting.

Banking supervision and financial stability
As part of its supervisory activities, the OeNB examines whether credit institutions adequately address climate-related financial risks. Conducting climate stress tests, the OeNB assesses the effects that climate change may have on banks’ financial creditworthiness and on the stability of the entire financial system.

As a member of the international Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the OeNB for instance helps create climate scenarios. In Austria, the OeNB supports the Financial Market Authority (FMA) and the competent ministries in implementing European regulatory measures to finance sustainable growth. This also applies to national initiatives promoting green finance and resilience to climate risks.

Social sustainability
Apart from its strong focus on environmental aspects, the OeNB also attaches great importance to social aspects. The OeNB has a long track record of commitment to the following values.

  • Given their extraordinary expertise and great commitment, its staff members are a key success factor for the OeNB.
  • The OeNB seeks to be an innovative employer.
  • Diversity and the advancement of women beyond legal requirements are important anchors of the OeNB’s corporate culture. The specific targets are set out in the OeNB’s action plan for the advancement of women and its strategy for staff development.
  • The OeNB places great value on the compatibility of family and career.
  • The OeNB promotes science and research as well as the arts and culture in Austria.
  • The OeNB takes its social responsibility seriously.

Good corporate governance
In line with its mission statement, the OeNB’s activities are founded on technical expertise and social competence, transparency, ethical values and responsible corporate governance. The OeNB’s governance is largely determined by the Federal Act on the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Nationalbank Act), the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the Statute of the ESCB and of the ECB.

Risk management
The OeNB relies on an enterprise risk management (ERM) system to capture, assess and address financial and other risks, including sustainability risks.

Box

The OeNB, for instance, pursues the following immediate priorities:

Reducing energy use
This includes implementing measures aimed at improving insulation, greening and shading to enhance the OeNB’s climate fitness (urban heating program). The OeNB developed this project with climate, architecture and green space experts. With the help of climate change models, the experts identified urban temperature hot spots in the OeNB’s neighborhood in Vienna and on the OeNB’s premises.
Another measure to save energy has been installing a new IT dashboard for measuring storage capacity requirements across business areas.

Renewable energy sources
The OeNB promotes renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels such as natural gas. The environment will benefit significantly from (1) the goal of the OeNB’s energy supplier in Vienna (Wien Energie) to become climate neutral by 2040 and (2) the use of district heating at the OeNB’s Western Austria branch office.

Expanding photovoltaics to secure an environmentally friendly power supply
As to calculating the carbon footprint while considering the standards of the widely used Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, without prejudice to fully accounting for scope 3 emissions, the OeNB recently collected additional data on indirect emissions, such as on employee commuting and waste generated in operations (scope 3). These data complement data on direct emissions, such as from the OeNB’s vehicle fleet or refrigerants used (scope 1), and on indirect emissions from energy purchases, such as district heating or district cooling (scope 2).

Mobility
In terms of mobility and transportation, the OeNB seeks to evaluate and pursue innovations and environmentally friendly propulsion technologies. This also includes how OeNB employees get to and from work. In 2023, the OeNB for the first time conducted an employee commute survey, including the means of transport used. The results should be reviewed to derive further findings.

Procurement
For contracting authorities such as the OeNB, Article 20 Federal Procurement Act 2018 stipulates that, in the award procedure, consideration must, among other things, be given to the environmental compatibility of the service. The OeNB is committed to complying with this principle; environmental compatibility is part of its procurement strategy.