Community Impacts and Grievances

We acknowledge that the presence of OMV’s business has direct and indirect impacts on local communities. We aim to steer the impacts of our business activities in a positive direction by building and maintaining mutual trust and pursuing respectful community relations, investing in local development, safeguarding human rights, and ensuring that the local suppliers who work with OMV follow sustainable practices. Transparent and prompt communication with local communities that ensures their voices and concerns are heard and addressed helps OMV establish good relations with those impacted by our business operations and supports us in creating a conducive operating environment for the business.

Management and Due Diligence Processes

Community Consultation and Social Impact Assessments

Our community relations and development management process is based on centralized policies and targets, and is implemented by locally responsible persons using local resources. In line with our community relations and development procedure, which is in effect for all countries in which we are active, we engage with local communities through tailored programs. For instance, all projects from OMV’s Energy segment require community consultation in the development phase. In 2023, 5 out of 13 development projects were in the process of community consultation.

We start by conducting a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which includes the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of local stakeholders. Sometimes, an SIA is integrated into an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) to foster synergies and efficiencies. The purpose of an SIA is to ensure that the views of the local communities, especially of indigenous peoples, are incorporated into and addressed throughout all phases of the project life cycle: commissioning, operation, and decommissioning or abandonment. We also pay particular attention to any possible impact on human rights.

Based on the internal guidelines for conducting SIAs, we include a baseline study, community needs assessments, stakeholder analyses, and a study of social risks associated with the project. Where possible, SIAs are conducted in a participatory manner by directly consulting with potentially affected communities. Our standards require the outcomes of the SIA to be communicated to affected stakeholders. Based on the outcome of the SIA, site-specific strategies for community relations and development, stakeholder engagement plans, and Community Grievance Mechanisms are developed and implemented.

Community Engagement

We maintain regular communication with the communities that live where we operate and strive to inform them in advance of any planned business activities that may affect them. For example, in the vicinity of our refineries, stakeholders such as local authorities and neighbors are proactively informed in advance of any work that may cause a disturbance (e.g., noise from turnarounds) by way of stakeholder meetings, social media, leaflets, and other channels as appropriate. An example of this in action is the “green phone” at the Schwechat refinery, which has ensured 24/7 direct contact for all neighbors for several years now. Every call is answered by the shift supervisor in charge, and in cases of perceived noises or odors, the shift supervisor checks immediately for potential sources in the refinery so that the issue can be resolved as quickly as possible.

When plants are decommissioned or we exit a location, our community relations team ensures that potential social impacts are addressed by drawing up targeted community engagement plans, social impact assessment and management plans, and exit strategies for ongoing community development projects.

Community Grievance Mechanisms

Our approach to managing community grievances follows the precautionary principle of obtaining local approval of OMV operations. This involves identifying and resolving the issues of concern to the local community early on. We strive to conduct our operations in a way that reduces any disruption to our neighboring communities to a minimum; however, grievances can still arise. We manage these grievances through localized Community Grievance Mechanisms (CGMs). The CGMs help OMV and those potentially impacted by its operations resolve issues in a non-judicial manner and, depending on the case, offer access to a solution.

The CGMs are fully operational in all operated E&P assets, in all three OMV refineries (Schwechat in Austria, Burghausen in Germany, and Petrobrazi in Romania), and at one power plant (Brazi in Romania). A Community Feedback Mechanism (CFM) is in place at SapuraOMV. Borealis has a hotline system where grievances can be reported by both internal and external stakeholders.

At OMV, a CGM is a key tool for preventing and managing our potential impacts on local communities and any associated social risks. Our management of community grievances aims to be fully aligned with the Ipieca best practice guidelines and with the Effectiveness Criteria of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Effectiveness Criteria require a grievance mechanism to be legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, a source of continuous learning, and based on engagement and dialogue. OMV has set a target to assess the CGMs at all sites against the UN Effectiveness Criteria for Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms by 2025. The CGM assessments review the existing processes and practices in place, and identify practical improvement measures. During these assessments, internal and external stakeholders are consulted, including via interviews, on the current performance of CGMs and design improvements that may be necessary. The main findings (e.g., key strengths, improvement areas, and proposed actions) are included in the CGM Assessment Report. The action plans are implemented by local management and monitored by the Group Community Relations and Development function.

CGM assessments have so far been completed in OMV’s Energy segment in Austria, Romania, Tunisia, New Zealand, and Malaysia, as well as at the Schwechat, Burghausen and the Petrobrazi refineries. Follow-up actions are currently being implemented in accordance with the findings. The sites already assessed account for 93% of all registered grievances at OMV in 2023.

The CGMs stipulate a stringent approach to systematically receiving, investigating, documenting, addressing, and resolving grievances in all the countries where we operate in a timely, fair, and consistent manner, thereby laying the foundation for our social license to operate. We define a grievance as an expression of dissatisfaction stemming from a real or perceived impact of the Company’s business activities. Grievances can be communicated verbally or in writing and can also be expressed in local languages. They can be lodged by email, phone, through our community relations staff working locally and other locally dedicated channels, as well as at a corporate level. The grievances can be expressed anonymously, as well as on behalf of another individual. OMV does not seek retaliation against any community members who lodge a grievance.

Our grievance management system is based on dialogue with our stakeholders first and foremost and is designed to prevent any risk of retaliation. The CGMs help OMV and those potentially impacted by its operations resolve issues without resorting to the legal system. However, OMV’s CGMs do not hinder or prevent affected stakeholders, including local communities, from accessing judicial solutions or other remedies for their complaints or grievances. What they do offer is a channel for resolving grievances out of court and, depending on the case, a remedy for community members. For more information on our community grievance mechanism process, see the OMV website.

2023 Actions

In 2023, the following key improvements were made to our community relations approach:

• OMV Tunisia completed its CGM Assessment against the UN Effectiveness Criteria. The assessment was conducted to evaluate how OMV Tunisia is implementing the CGM. It highlighted strengths, identified issues and risks, and spotted areas for improvement. Among the key strengths identified was the fact that the mechanism is fully functioning in a highly complex environment and consistently being used to receive and resolve grievances, including legacy grievances, and there is continuous engagement and dialogue with claimants. Recommendations to improve the CGM, such as further improving accessi­bility, transparency, and documentation, were determined and an action plan was developed and is currently being implemented.
• The majority of grievances received through OMV’s CGMs were registered in OMV Petrom’s E&P division. In 2023, we conducted several evaluations and analyses focusing on managing recurrent grievances, especially regarding historically polluted sites. We are working to resolve issues related to the root causes of recurring grievances, such as handling claims related to land rentals and environmental compensation more efficiently. Our proactive efforts to resolve the grievances resulted in a decrease in the number of registered complaints at OMV Petrom E&P of 8% in 2023 compared to 2022.
• The Petrobrazi refinery has a 24/7 call center service that facilitates communication between the Petrobrazi refinery and all stakeholders wanting to submit complaints or request information. In 2023, the call center was promoted online in the Prahova community. The call center’s workflow was also reviewed and the procedure was updated to improve the process.
• In the first years of the implementation of the Community Feedback Mechanisms (CFMs) in Malaysia, a key finding was that contractors need to frequently be reminded about the availability of the mechanism due to high turnover. In 2023, posters on the availability of the CFM and how to access it were put up in all site offices in several languages.

Outlook

We will take the following actions in the coming years to continue to improve our community relations approach:

• OMV Petrom will begin a social and human rights impact assessment (SHIA) for the Neptun Deep project. The Neptun Deep project is the largest natural gas project in the Romanian Black Sea, located about 160 km away from the shoreline in Constanța. The goal of the SHIA is to establish a community baseline study and analysis of the current and potential social and human rights issues affecting the communities near Tuzla and Costinești, and prepare a community engagement strategy, community investment plan, and human rights risk management and due diligence plans in the area.
• At the Petrobrazi refinery, the new working procedure for the call center will be implemented and the call center will continue to be promoted.
• In OMV Petrom’s E&P segment, we intend to continue to investigate root causes and expand on the site investigation and evaluation studies for each historical and recurrent grievance. We will enhance data linkages and management between the Land Management System database and ServiceNow (which houses the grievance management database dedicated to tracking and managing grievances, including the details of the grievances, their status, resolutions, communication records, and any other relevant information related to handling complaints and issues).
• SapuraOMV will carry out stakeholder engagement activities with fishing communities in the vicinity of its operations and proactively inform them about the availability of the Community Feedback Mechanism.

Target 2025

• Assess Community Grievance Mechanism at all sites against UN Effectiveness Criteria⁵ Nine defined assets on a 100% operator/majority-owned basis from the OMV Energy, Refining, and Power business segments are currently in scope (scope liable to change based on operatorship/divestments). The scope is currently: E&P assets within the Energy segment in Austria, E&P Romania, E&P Tunisia, E&P Yemen, E&P New Zealand, E&P Malaysia, the Schwechat refinery, the Burghausen refinery, the Petrobrazi refinery.

Status 2023

• 8 out of 9 sites in scope assessed

Most relevant SDG

SDG targets:
16.6 Develop effective, accountable, and transparent institutions at all levels
16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making at all levels