To manage the identified material impacts related to all affected communities near our operations, our Code of Conduct (CoC) and Human Rights Policy Statement serve as overarching frameworks outlining our general commitments to affected communities and their human rights. In addition, the Sustainability Directive outlines specific processes and covers social responsibility, including community relations and social investments. The Sustainability Directive was updated in 2025 to include new community relations and social investment requirements, including a reference to the Community Relations & Social Investments (CR & SI) handbook, which provides additional guidance to manage these activities and which is available for all local OMV community relations and social investments focal persons.
Code of Conduct
For the Code of Conduct, unless otherwise specified, the key contents of the policy that are relevant for S3 Affected Communities, the process for monitoring, the scope of the policy, involvement of senior-level management, reference to third-party standards (where relevant), interests of key stakeholders in setting the policy (where relevant), and how the policy is made available to potentially affected stakeholders are covered under the policies disclosed in ESRS 2 Overarching Policies.
Human Rights Policy Statement
For the Human Rights Policy Statement, unless otherwise specified, the key contents of the policy that are relevant for S3 Affected Communities, the process for monitoring, the scope of the policy, involvement of senior-level management, reference to third-party standards (where relevant), interests of key stakeholders in setting the policy (where relevant), and how the policy is made available to potentially affected stakeholders are covered under the policies disclosed in ESRS 2 Overarching Policies.
Specific Commitments for Affected Communities and Indigenous Peoples
Through specific provisions in the Human Rights Policy Statement, OMV is dedicated to addressing any adverse impacts on local culture, religions, customs, traditions, indigenous peoples’ rights, legitimate land, or livelihoods caused or contributed to by our business operations and community investment projects.
OMV adheres to the principle of free, prior, and informed consent, in line with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 7 and ILO Convention 169. This commitment includes community consultations to ensure that the rights, culture, and traditions of indigenous peoples are respected and protected. OMV is dedicated to avoiding involuntary resettlement and maintains a zero-tolerance policy for illegitimate land grabbing. We respect legitimate tenure rights related to land and natural resources, including water, as per IFC Performance Standard 5. In cases where OMV’s activities might interfere with the rights of affected communities, particularly indigenous peoples, we commit to developing mitigation, reparation, and compensation plans in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including the host government. We are committed to maintaining regular dialogue with local communities to understand their needs, concerns, and interests. The forms of engagement with local communities are tailored to the local context. Local needs identified through engagement guide our investment priorities. We are committed to making Community Grievance Mechanisms (CGMs) available at all operational sites. A CGM is a formalized process to manage grievances in a systematic and transparent manner and offer opportunity for remedy (see Processes to Remediate Negative Impacts and Channels for Affected Communities to Raise Concerns). The OMV Human Rights Policy Statement and Human Rights Management System are specifically aligned with the International Bill of Human Rights, international humanitarian law (where applicable), International Labour Organization (ILO) core treaties, the UN Global Compact, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises to ensure the rights of affected communities and indigenous peoples are respected and protected. For more details, see ESRS 2 Overarching Policies.
Sustainability Directive
To ensure that local communities near our operations benefit from our presence, the Sustainability Directive outlines the requirements for obtaining and maintaining the social license to operate through partnership-oriented community relations and social investments. Social investments address identified community needs and are designed to mitigate potential and actual negative impacts on affected communities from failure to respect their rights during Company operations, while fostering the actual and potential positive impacts of a respectful and trustful relationship. They also create valuable business opportunities by fostering trust, collaboration, and mutual benefit between OMV and the communities it impacts. By monitoring adherence to this policy through activities such as regular self-assessments, we verify and ensure that requirements are consistently applied, which in turn enables us to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. The Sustainability Directive applies to OMV’s global operations, including Borealis and OMV Petrom.
Final approval for the Sustainability Directive lies with the Executive Board. Group Sustainability experts steer the overall community relations agenda and targets and provide tools, training, guidance, expertise, and support to the business to conduct community relations as required. Accountability lies with the respective business SVPs/general managers, who appoint local community relations and social investment focal persons in their respective businesses, where those businesses are relevant from a community relations perspective. The local focal persons are responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with local community stakeholders, addressing local concerns and complaints in accordance with community grievance management systems, and designing and implementing social investments. Additionally, local focal persons are responsible for monitoring community stakeholders’ attitudes toward the Company to mitigate negative impacts on the business, and informing line management of any serious social issues that have wider implications for project activities. The community relations and engagement process, which is governed by the Sustainability Directive, is used to monitor effectiveness.
Through the overarching OMV Sustainability Framework (see ESRS 2 GOV-1 Role of the Administrative, Management, and Supervisory Bodies) and related activities, the Sustainability Directive is aligned to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. In line with these efforts, we prioritize social investments according to defined strategic social activities (including community investments) to address the needs of affected communities and manage positive changes resulting from our operations. OMV subject matter experts and relevant departments were either directly involved in the development of the directive or their feedback on the draft directive was sought during the internal consultation process. The directive is available to all employees internally through dedicated platforms.