Biodiversity

Biodiversity supports human and societal needs, including food and nutrition security, energy, development of medicines and pharmaceuticals, freshwater, and clean air, which together underpin good health. It also supports economic opportunities and leisure activities that contribute to our overall well-being. Biodiversity conservation provides substantial benefits, such as clean, consistent water flows, protection from floods and storms, and a stable climate. The loss of biodiversity is perilous, and its consequences are immediate.

In December 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted with the objective of taking urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, thereby putting nature on a path to recovery by 2030. Accordingly, the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030, which is a comprehensive, ambitious, and long-term plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems, aims to put Europe’s biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030 and contains specific actions and commitments.

Specific Policies and Commitments

The OMV Group is committed to preserving and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems in alignment with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the EU’s biodiversity strategy. The OMV Group’s Environmental Management Standard and Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure state that all OMV activities must be conducted in such a way as to cause minimal distur­bance to protected areas and to local flora and fauna.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

Risk Assessments

Observed or predicted direct and indirect impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) are described and analyzed in environmental impact assessments. Through these impact assessments, the presence of nationally or globally endangered species and nationally or internationally recognized protected areas are identified.

Biodiversity Management Plans

OMV is in contact with Ipieca’s Biodiversity Task Force, which issued a guide on how to develop biodiversity action plans in 2022. OMV aims to develop Biodiversity Management Plans based on this guide for all operations and projects where significant risks are identified.

Mitigation and Rehabilitation

In the event of significant observed or predicted impacts, we apply the mitigation hierarchy, and action planning gives priority to avoidance and minimization over the restoration and offsetting of the impact. Mitigation measures include, for example, the rerouting of pipelines or scheduling projects during seasons when the impact on breeding populations can be avoided.

An example of good practice in biodiversity management can be taken from the Berling development project (formerly Iris Hades) in offshore Norway. The aim was to avoid any damage to sensitive cold-water coral. Building on available know-how and technology, biodiversity screening and baseline studies were executed as part of the environmental impact assessment. The mitigation hierarchy was applied by selecting the well location, template location, and pipeline routing as far away as possible from any coral colonies. The best available technologies were utilized to minimize any impact on the environment.

In 2023, OMV Petrom continued the cleaning, remediation, and ecological reconstruction works for five former fuel terminals (for more information, see Waste). During this project, we performed periodic monitoring during and after site rehabilitation, as requested for each site by the environmental authorities. Examples of this monitoring include taking samples of soil/subsoil and checking the groundwater in each phase of the project (e.g., excavation, bioremediation). This is carried out on a quarterly basis for one year after our work is finalized.

Working with Third Parties

OMV works locally with third parties on restoration and rehabilitation projects. For example, in 2023, we supported the following biodiversity-related projects in New Zealand as part of our wider Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility portfolio. New Zealand has the highest number of threatened indigenous species in the world.¹ Source: Environment Aotearoa 2019, Ministry for the Environment

• Partnership with Ngāti Koata and the Department of Conservation for the Moawhitu lake and wetland regeneration project
• Partnership with the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust, creating a predator-free reserve in South Taranaki, thereby protecting the endemic hihi bird (stitchbird) in this reserve located just outside of New Plymouth
• Partnership with the local hapū at Pohokura to restore and protect the wetlands on site

2023 Actions

• We initiated a Group-wide project to establish a nature and biodiversity framework for the OMV Group, as part of which we are applying the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare (LEAP) approach to identify priority sites, evaluate impacts and dependencies, assess risks and opportunities, and prepare to respond to nature-related risks and opportunities and to report on material nature-related issues.
• We again took steps to prevent impacts on sensitive species and ecosystems. For instance, during our exploration activities at the Wittau site in Austria, a range of technologies were used to mitigate impacts on insects and birds as much as possible. As the target location was positioned below a sensitive area, we moved the drill site to a less sensitive place and applied directional drilling technology. Insect-friendly lighting was used during the whole drilling operation. For well testing, enclosed incinerators were used instead of open flares to minimize disturbance to the local ecosystem.

Outlook

In 2024, we plan to apply the TNFD LEAP approach to all our operated sites (excluding filling stations) and develop the processes for consistent biodiversity management in our operated sites. Subsequently, we plan to extend the scope to value chain impacts. In 2024, OMV will also continue supporting local biodiversity initiatives such as the Ngāti Koata and the Department of Conservation for the Moawhitu lake and wetland regeneration project, and the partnership with the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust in New Zealand.