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Sustainability report 21|22

Management

Management structure 

CEO Markus Mitteregger is responsible for the Midstream and Field Operations departments, as well as for the technical Group functions. 

Commercial Group functions, energy trading and the support functions for information security, risk assessment, internal audit, strategic safety management and HSE are overseen by CFO Michael Längle.

Executive Board Members    

  • CEO Markus Mitteregger
  • CFO Michael Längle
     

Authorized Representatives

  • Peter Pichler
  • Siegfried Kiss
     

Supervisory Board

  • Stefan Szyszkowitz, Chairman 
  • Axel Wietfeld, Deputy Chairman
  • Franz Mittermayer
  • Martin Graf
  • Johannes Pichelbauer (delegated by the Employee Staff Council)
  • Anneliese Neubacher-Firmhofer (delegated by the Employee Staff Council)
     

Highest governance body 

The Executive Board is the highest management body. The members are appointed by the Super­visory Board for three years on the basis of an open application process. Markus Mitteregger joined the RAG Austria AG Executive Board in 2003. He was appointed CEO and Executive Board Chairman in 2008. Michael Längle took over as the Executive Board member responsible for finance and as Chief Financial Officer in 2011.

Managerial and supervisory ­responsibilities at key subsidiaries:

  • Markus Mitteregger is Managing Director of RAG Exploration & Production GmbH.
  • Markus Mitteregger and Michael Längle are representatives of the shareholders of RAG Energy Storage GmbH and RAG Exploration & Production GmbH.
  • Michael Längle is a representative of the shareholders of Silenos Energy GmbH.
  • Neither member of the Executive Board holds any supervisory board mandates in other companies.


The Supervisory Board members are appointed at the annual general meeting of shareholder representatives (personal mandate) or delegated by the works council.

The Supervisory Board approves transactions that require its consent (in accordance with the Executive Board’s rules of procedure) and receives regular reports on and monitors business performance. Meetings of bodies such as the Audit Committee (which is mandatory under the Austrian Aktiengesetz [Companies Act]) are held at regular intervals, and those of other bodies, including the Working Committee and the HR Committee, take place as required.
 

The following processes are designed to ensure that conflicts of interest relating to Executive Board members are avoided: 

  • Four-eyes principle
  • Power of attorney guidelines (memorandum of association)
  • Secondary employment must be reported to the HR Department (staff guidelines on secondary employment)
  • Board members’ business-related memberships must be disclosed in the annual financial statements


 Together we’re plotting a course for a sustainable energy future.
 

Management structure and ­integration of sustainability 

Key strategic decisions related to the company’s strategic focus on sustainability, and to the development of, approval of and updates to the company’s purpose, values and mission are taken by the Executive Board in consultation with senior executives, agreed with the Supervisory Board and recorded in the business plan. Annual strategy reviews are geared towards assessing whether measures aimed at achieving the strategic objectives set out in the business plan have had the desired results or whether the measures need to be adjusted. The Supervisory Board receives reports from the Audit Committee (which is a Supervisory Board committee) regarding compliance, the internal control system (ICS) and risk-related matters. The Supervisory Board also receives information on sustainability-related issues as appropriate in the course of its meetings, and approves the information where necessary.

Topics related to sustainability are also discussed at regular weekly meetings between the Executive Board and top-level executives. Reports on recent developments, sometimes involving relevant internal experts, are provided in the course of Executive Board meetings, and the Board takes decisions as required. The Energy and Emissions Manager regularly reports on the potential for reductions in energy consumption and emissions, and on the measures required to achieve them.

The Executive Board is kept up to date on all relevant critical matters in the course of the aforementioned weekly staff meetings, at special regular meetings with selected senior executives, as well as by means of compliance reporting and reports on cases that have been submitted according to Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz (HSchG 2023). 

At the yearly kickoff events, CFO Michael Längle addresses sustainability-related topics with a view to raising awareness among the company’s employees. The focus is on the challenges facing RAG and the future opportunities that the company has identified as a result.

With regard to future challenges associated with sustainability reporting, the Executive Board has initiated an internal skills development process involving training courses and dialogue with experts, which is designed to put the company in a position to meet the mandatory reporting requirements over the coming years. 

Institutionalisation

In our view, sustainability-related activities call for an integrative approach, so our various CSR task forces are made up of representatives from all the key areas of the company, including storage operations and energy facilities; health, safety and the environment; energy and emissions management; internal audit and strategic safety management; government agency and public authority liaison; purchasing; and human resource management. The aim is to systematically address the topic of sustainability in the company, in line with the changing legal situation, especially in view of future mandatory sustainability reporting requirements.

These sub-task forces are headed by experts who, due to their leadership function, are members of the coordination team. This team meets regularly to analyse CSR targets and initiatives in terms of their relevance, with the aim of achieving continuous improvements in the company’s sustainability performance. At meetings of the steering committee, the Executive Board receives updates from the CSR Officer (the Head of Corporate Communications) – who is also the CSR coordination team leader – on the progress made on CSR activities.

The number of CSR task forces rose from four in 2020 to six in 2022. The task forces are assigned sustainability focus areas on the basis of their respective expertise.


RAG. Corporate culture & compliance 

Lead: Head of Internal Audit and Strategic Safety
Topics: Corporate governance, compliance, stakeholder engagement and sustainable procurement


RAG. Future strategy

Lead: Senior business planning analyst
Topics: Strategic focus on sustainability and sustainable energy solution


RAG. Safe facilities 

Lead: Chief Information Security Officer
Topics: Safe and resilient facilities


RAG. Environment

Lead: Head of integrity management
Topics: Environmental protection, resources, energy and emissions


RAG. Working environment

Lead: Team lead HR operations
Topics: Working conditions, balancing work and individual needs, health & safety, diversity


RAG. Taxonomy & ESG Reporting

Lead: Head of finance and accounting
Topics: Legal framework with regard to sustainability