Between economic policy, climate and socially relevant sustainability goals, the Vienna Stock Exchange, as the central infrastructure platform in the Austrian financial centre, together with its network and the listed companies, makes an important contribution to strengthening the country's competitiveness in the global environment.
For us, sustainable business management means taking responsibility in economic, social and ecological terms. We incorporate environmentally orientated and socio-cultural values into our corporate management and anchor them in our processes.
With its sustainability reporting guidance, the Vienna Stock Exchange provides an overview of the legal reporting obligations in Austria as well as internationally established reporting standards. It serves as an orientation for listed and non-listed companies in order to better cover the complexity of sustainability issues in their reporting.
VÖNIX – Austria's first sustainability index
Back in 2005, together with VBV Vorsorgekasse, rfu research and other partners, we addressed the topic of sustainability and green finance by calculating the VÖNIX – one of the first national sustainability indices. The VÖNIX includes those domestic companies listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange that are leaders in terms of ecological and social activities.
Once a year, the most important award of the Austrian capital market is presented – the Vienna Stock Exchange Award. Among other things, companies are honoured with the VÖNIX Sustainability Award (consumer, industrials and financial category) for their commitment to sustainability.
CECE SRI – CECE Socially Responsible Investment
The CEE counterpart to VÖNIX is the CECE Socially Responsible Investment (CECE SRI EUR), which is also calculated by the Vienna Stock Exchange. It consists of those companies that are tradable on the stock exchanges of the Central, Eastern and South Eastern European region and are leaders in terms of social and environmental performance.
The stakeholders and interest groups of the Vienna Stock Exchange play an important role for the success of the company. The involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the dialogue is therefore crucial. In future, ESG issues will be gradually integrated into existing stakeholder dialogues through a proactive approach in order to take their concerns into account.
Since 2020, the Vienna Stock Exchange has also been part of the "Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative" and is voluntarily committed to promoting long-term and sustainable investments and the disclosure of ESG indicators in dialogue with investors, companies and supervisory authorities.
The SSE supports stock exchanges worldwide in focussing on the topic of sustainability by communicating the social and ecological risks and opportunities resulting from climate change. As part of the initiative, we have implemented various measures in recent years, such as the sustainability reporting guidance and events such as "Ring the Bell for Gender Equality".
Our employees form the central foundation and heart of our company. We work together to achieve our goals. We promote personal responsibility and performance. Diversity is another success factor for us. We treat all employees equally, regardless of gender, religion, nationality, age or sexual orientation.
Health and safety in the workplace are particularly important to us. Various measures are available to promote health in the workplace. These include a medical and psychological advice, sports subsidies, grants for Shiatsu massages and much more. As there are also enthusiastic cyclists among the Vienna Stock Exchange team, a fleet of bicycles and a "Grätzlrad" were purchased on the initiative of the staff.
Regular joint cultural and sporting activities as well as voluntary social benefits also promote the working atmosphere and team spirit (e.g. lunch lottery, business run, corporate culture events, bike repair offer, etc.).
We also attach great importance to training and further education. Every employee is offered the opportunity to enhance both their personal and professional skills.
Equal rights are of utmost priority at the Vienna Stock Exchange. More than half of the departments of the company are headed by women. The Vienna Stock Exchange supports the compatibility of family and career through a variety of measures (e.g. flexible working hours, home office).
We are convinced that education pays off. With numerous seminars and training opportunities, the Vienna Stock Exchange disseminates knowledge about investment: from school lectures and workshops for teachers to the Vienna Stock Exchange Academy. The multimedia offerings on our website and social media channels also provide free information on the topic of investment and on domestic listed companies. In addition, the Vienna Stock Exchange organises up to twenty internships for students every year.
Since 2011, the Vienna Stock Exchange has been supporting the START project, a scholarship programme for committed students with a migration background. We take on sponsorships and support young people in gaining a higher education qualification. We also donate the proceeds from the annual "Wiener Börse Punsch" to the non-profit organisation.
As a fully electronic stock exchange, information security and data protection are essential for the Vienna Stock Exchange. Personal data is processed in accordance with the statutory provisions, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG) and the Austrian Telecommunications Act (TKG), and is set out in our data protection statement.
The efficient use of resources is of crucial importance to us as an IT infrastructure service provider. This not only includes efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and a waste management concept, but also the efficient use of IT equipment. In addition, efficient servers, energy-efficient data centres and optimised devices help to reduce energy consumption.In addition, efficient servers, energy-efficient data centres and optimised devices help to reduce energy consumption.
In 2019, the Vienna Stock Exchange started to calculate its carbon footprint in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). The GHG Protocol is the global standard for quantifying and communicating greenhouse gas emissions. Measuring our carbon footprint gives us the opportunity to assess our emissions and develop measures to further reduce them. Unavoidable carbon emissions are compensated via Climate Austria.
In the interests of transparency and quality, the Vienna Stock Exchange has its own binding code of conduct. As compliance officer, one person is responsible for monitoring and managing compliance issues within the company on the basis of our internal compliance code.