From pioneer to trailblazer
Generating value for the benefit of the community, our customers, employees, shareholders, and current and future generations: this is our mission and our identity.
For more than a decade, the ISO14001 environmental management system has enabled and facilitated us to take a structured approach to environmental challenges, make appropriate decisions and continuously improve our environmental performance. It also supports us in achieving our goals as part of the UniCredit Group's climate strategy and makes an important contribution to meeting the current reporting requirements under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), according to which Bank Austria must report for the first time in 2025 for the year 2024.
While environmental management was something of a pioneer of sustainability at Bank Austria in the early years, it is now an important link and a key “supplier” to various areas of the bank that put ESG and sustainability into practice on a daily basis. From business units to communication and marketing.
Net Zero 2030 in focus
Since the introduction of the Environmental Management System in 2011, Bank Austria's performance in all relevant environmental KPIs such as energy consumption, business travel kilometers, water and paper consumption, but also the amount of waste has improved significantly. Compared with the base year 2008, savings ranged from minus 82% to minus 94%, depending on the area. The aim now is to maintain this level, continue to make small adjustments and thus make the greatest possible contribution to the target set by the UniCredit Group of “net zero emissions by 2030”.
Not being satisfied with what has been achieved is also demonstrated by the current activities in the Real Estate division: Not only are numerous photovoltaic projects currently being implemented at Bank Austria locations, but the remaining branch locations powered by fossil fuels will also be gradually converted to alternative forms of energy by 2023.
By participating in the klimaaktiv pact initiated by the Ministry of Climate Protection, which runs until 2030, Bank Austria is also setting an important example, making an essential contribution to achieving Austria's climate targets together with other climate pioneer companies and benefiting from the constant exchange with like-minded people.
“The development of our operational environmental KPIs is really impressive - especially thanks to the commitment of our colleagues from Real Estate. Environmental management has certainly created a good basis for us to be so successful. Today, however, the ecological or rather sustainable commitment of a company like Bank Austria must be thought of in a much more comprehensive way. Keyword ESG, keyword green portfolio. Keyword CSRD reporting. But here, too, it is clear that the structures that have been created can now make an important contribution to a wide range of requirements.”
The relocation to the Austria Campus has had a great impact on environmental data:
- Since 2008, greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by more than 80 %. A clear focus is on Net Zero by 2030.
- We purchase nearly 100 % electricity with the Austrian Ecolabel, which comes from renewable energy sources and is therefore CO2 neutral.
- We have been able to reduce our total energy consumption by 75 % since 2008
- Other successes in: Waste (down 90 %), copy paper (down 89 %) and water (down 89 %).
- Our privately built geothermal system provides essential support for both heating and cooling
Bank Austria’s active environmental management
An environmental management network was established in order to ensure a sustainable Environmental Management System at Bank Austria. This guarantees the coordination and implementation of environmental issues across all banking areas. The appointment of a steering committee underlines the importance that we give to this issue.
But how will this work in practice?
The international standard ISO 14001 is - apart from the EMAS regulation - the world’s most important guideline when it comes to what corporate environmental management should consist of. Following this standard, environmental protection is systematically entrenched into a company’s management.
Thanks to the commitment of our employees, over the last few years Bank Austria has continually improved its Environmental Management System, which is already ISO 14001-certified.
Our environmental policy also sets out the guidelines and broad objectives that guide us: Continuous reduction of our environmental impact; climate protection at the center of our efforts; compliance with legal requirements and voluntary commitments; promotion of environmental awareness among our employees; exchange with stakeholders in order to achieve goals together.
An extract from the Bank Austria environmental programme shows further steps
- Reduction of expensive storage media for energy saving
- Implementing new media to reduce hardware
- Printing with FollowMe printing system and PretonSave software
- Development of green procurement policies; plastic-free initiative; paperless office; expansion of green product range.
