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Welcome, © wdw4friends Stakeholder Council 2017, © wdw4friends Closing remarks, © wdw4friends
Raiffeisen Bank International | Sustainability Report 2017
GRI content index / Assurance statement Engaged citizen Fair partner Responsible banker Sustainability management Overview Foreword
Stakeholder Council
The most important communication format for us is the annual Stakeholder Council, in which various stakeholder
groups enter into dialog with representatives of our Management Board and management. The goals of the
event are dialog and knowledge transfer, informing the participants about progress achieved, discussing possible
actions and jointly considering and dealing with current sustainability questions.
Of the suggestions from the Stakeholder Council in 2016, the following points were prioritized and implemented:
• There are more training courses for Raiffeisen employees in Austria (“certified sustainability consultants”), as
well as the first customer events in CEE to enhance customer information about sustainability in investment and
to strengthen the presence thereof in CEE.
• We were encouraged to consider the long-term vision and to be confident in addressing our own investment
decisions and climate risks in investments. To that end, we can refer to the introduction of a coal policy as well
as the preparation of clear policies for sensitive business areas (war material, nuclear power and gambling)
(see page 51).
• We successfully implemented the suggestion to continue our participation in the CDP again in 2017. Detailed
information on the results can be found on pages 34–35 and page 122.
• In addition, the previous climate policy has been extended (see page 144 ff) or adapted to meet the targets
of the Paris Agreement. Additionally, RBI actively supported the development of a climate strategy in 2017 as
part of its membership in the Raiffeisen Sustainability Initiative; there are plans to adapt RBI environmental targets
accordingly.
• Also, the suggestion to expand the existing corporate volunteering program in the field of financial education
has been made (see page 129).
The 8th RBI Stakeholder Council was attended by over 80 people from various stakeholder groups
(customers and business partners, employees and owners, and representatives from the financial
world and rating agencies, education and research, special interest agencies, media, politics
and administration, NGOs and NPOs). The aim was to shed more light on RBI’s contribution to
the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the international community in fall 2015.
Therefore, the event slogan was “SDGs meet RBI.”
During real-time voting, 81 percent of participants said that they had already heard of the SDGs, and 82 percent
said that the topic was of critical importance. 70 percent said that it would be good for RBI to make a contribution
to this cause, 30 percent said it was essential.
Johann Strobl, CEO of RBI, welcomed the participants and thanked them for coming as well as for the time
they invested in the RBI topics. He was pleased with the numerous suggestions people come up with every
year at the Stakeholder Council and wished all guests a good time at the event.