ÖBB Annual Report 2023

Group Management Report 144 Österreichische Bundesbahnen-Holding Aktiengesellschaft Consolidated Financial Statements | Group Management Report 99 The ÖBB Group is a sustainable, climate and environmentally friendly group of companies. The ÖBB Group therefore wants to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the EU Taxonomy Regulation and therefore be in a position to implement sustainable forms of financing in the future. Only ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG is currently a public-interest entity within the ÖBB Group and is therefore obliged to fulfil the provisions arising from the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Nevertheless, as in previous years, this report contains a voluntary assessment from the Group perspective of the parent company ÖBB- Holding AG and its fully consolidated subsidiaries. Note: ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG reports on its obligations under the EU Taxonomy Regulation in a non-financial statement that is part of the Group management report of the ÖBB-Infrastruktur consolidated financial statements. Procedure for evaluating taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned economic activities in the ÖBB Group After the publication of EU Taxonomy-Reg., a project team was formed to deal with EU Taxonomy and its implications. Due to the currently still developing legal situation, there may still be changes in the future with regard to classifications / valuations and disclosures. The changes that occurred in 2023 are explained on the following pages. Taxonomy-eligible economic activities The evaluation of taxonomy-eligible economic activities was carried out for all six environmental objectives on the basis of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2486. A list of the ÖBB Group’s taxonomy-eligible economic activities was drawn up to determine the relevant financial indicators, which is evaluated annually and updated if necessary. The evaluation of taxonomy-eligible economic activities was conducted on the basis of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021 / 2139, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023 / 2485 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023 / 2486 for all six environmental objectives. The economic activities of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1214 were not analysed further, as the ÖBB Group conducts no economic activities in the field of nuclear energy or fossil gas (see table on page 101). The 360-degree screening process for evaluation is divided into the following steps: – Screening of NACE codes classified by “applicable”, “maybe”, and “not applicable”. – Comparison of the NACE codes with those of the respective economic activities per company in the “EU Taxonomy Compass” of the European Commission. – Conducting an “impact analysis” based on the “description of activities” in the respective delegated regulations as well as the processes and business activities in the ÖBB Group. – The unclear or ambiguous economic activities with the “possibly criterion” were analysed in more detail in coordination meetings with experts. – Checking the key figures for relevant economic activities. The financial indicators analysed are in accordance with the consolidation principles applicable to the Group’s financial reporting under the applicable accounting standards (IFRS). – Based on this list of relevant economic activities, the existing reporting system was supplemented with an input mask containing individual measures that can be assigned to the framework. This enables an appropriate standardised data collection. Taxonomy-compliant economic activities – The list of identified taxonomy-eligible economic activities was used to determine the relevant financial indicators for the environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the following further steps were taken: Evaluation of the substantial contribution to the environmental objective of climate change mitigation or adaptation and ensuring compliance with the technical assessment criteria and the “Do No Significant Harm” criteria (DNSH criteria) by technical experts from the subsidiaries. A climate risk and vulnerability analysis was also conducted in the course of the analysis. For this purpose, physical climate risks that are essential for some economic activities were subjected to a robust climate risk and vulnerability analysis. Further information on climate risk and vulnerability analyses is available in Chapter G.2 – Adaptation to climate change. This was followed by an assessment of existing adaptation measures and an evaluation. The aim is to determine whether additional adaptation solutions are required in the future to reduce significant physical climate risks. In a final step, the minimum social protection standards were ensured – in accordance with international frameworks such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the fundamental principles and rights of the International Bill of Human Rights and the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ÖBB Group fulfils the requirements of Article 18 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Further information on the topics of the minimum social protection standards is available in chapters G.6 and G.12. – Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2486 states that the taxonomy conformity of the identified economic activities from the other environmental objectives need not be reviewed for the 2023 financial year. The supplements and amendments to the environmental objectives of climate change mitigation and adaptation to climate change in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 were voluntarily taken into account in the assessment of taxonomy conformity. | MR99