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Sustainability is a decisive criterion in Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s lending principles.
These include both the environmental and social standards established by the World Bank in connection with project financing activities in threshold and developing countries, and the Equator Principles, a global industry standard signed in 2003 and applied to all major project financing transactions in addition to the World Bank standards.
We have long taken into consideration ecological aspects in our creditworthiness evaluations.
Under Basel II, EMAS and ISO 14001-certified companies are assigned a better rating. Basel II will help to create a greater environmental awareness in the banking industry and among customers. We are substantially contributing to this development through active communication and transparent guidelines. Our environmental desk has supported credit officers and risk managers in the area of ecological risk evaluation for many years.
Industry checklists and training programmes enable customers and the bank’s employees to identify and address environmental risks at an early stage. Data available in BA-CA’s Intranet provide account managers with information on environmental problem areas and contamination. Our customers can use our BusinessNet service to obtain information on advisory services, analyses, expert opinions and contacts with public authorities.
Ethical investments
Investments are regarded as being ethical if the area in which the issuer (company, central government, international organisation) operates meets specific requirements of social, humanitarian and ecological responsibility. Predefined exclusion criteria ensure that specific securities are not taken into account for investments.
Through Pioneer Investments Austria, our mutual fund company, we offer investment products based on ecological considerations.
“Pioneer Funds Austria – Ethik Fonds”
is a mixed fund seeking long-term capital growth and current income; it is targeted at investors who take into account ethical criteria in making their investment decisions. The basic portfolio is made up of international equities (about 30 %) and euro-denominated bonds (some 70 %).
The benchmark used in this context is the E.Capital Ethical Balanced Index.
“Pioneer Funds Global Ethical Equity”
The objective of this fund is to generate capital growth in the medium to longer term by investing at least two-thirds of its assets in a diversified portfolio comprising equities and equity securities issued by companies meeting specified ethical criteria. These criteria include companies whose products and services contribute to a safe and healthy environment; companies which withdraw capital from businesses which damage the environment, and companies which distinguish themselves through their responsible behaviour towards the community.
The benchmark used in this context is the FTSE 4 Good Global 100.
Commitment
Our memberships of various environmental organisations are further evidence of the importance we attach to product ecology. For example, we have been cooperating in the EU project Concerted Action on Brownfield and Economic Regeneration Network (CABERNET), a network for revitalising abandoned former industrial sites, for many years.
An ÖNORM working group deals with a new standard for “recording and evaluating environmental aspects of property valuation – potential uses of brownfields and determination of related costs” in Austria. The relevant ÖNORM standard is to be applied to the valuation of land previously used for industrial or military purposes, and of unused land in urban and settlement areas and infrastructure sites. BA-CA is a member of this working group. BA-CA is also a supporting member of ÖVA, the Austrian Association of Contaminated Land Management. The principal objective of ÖVA is to encourage efforts to find integrative solutions to treating contaminated land and making it fit for reuse, and to bring together experts in this field.
respACT is an association serving as a point of contact for all questions related to the implementation of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. It provides a platform for companies to exchange ideas and information, and jointly support environmental initiatives. BA-CA is a member of respACT Austria.
Taking part as speakers in a conference held in Munich on the topic of brownfields, Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s experts underlined the excellent reputation they enjoy in this area.
The Vienna CSR Forum (www.vienna-csrforum.com), sponsored by Bank Austria Creditanstalt, met with great interest.
Bank Austria Creditanstalt is an active member of the “Grünes Geld” platform set up by ÖGUT, the Austrian Society for Environment and Technology, to strengthen the market for ethical and ecological investments.
UNEP FI CEE Task Force
BA-CA, which as member of UniCredit Group operates the leading international banking network in the growth region of Central and Eastern Europe, was one of the institutions helping to set up the CEE Task Force within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The purpose of the task force is to enhance awareness of the interrelationship between environmental topics and banking transactions in the countries in Central and Eastern Europe.