Corporate Social Responsibility in Austria

Austria has emerged as one of the most successful European countries from the recent economic and financial crises. The country consistently displays high standards of security, environmental conservation, relatively little social inequality, good infrastructure, and a functioning welfare system. Its economic model, sometimes called the (eco) social market economy, seeks to balance economic and societal concerns and is rooted in a long established social partnership (denoting the formalized relationships between the government, employer, and employee interest groups). Given this firmly entrenched and institutionalized form of social solidarity, Austria has developed into a hidden champion in the field of CSR in several ways. Since 2003, institutional stakeholders, including the Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Austrian Economic Chambers and the Federation of Austrian Industries, together with several Austrian ministries and other stakeholders have jointly contributed to the firm establishment of CSR in Austria. In addition, a broad range of CSR focused academic and professional training programmes have developed in Austria, promoting skills and knowledge on responsible management practices. Austria also features a variety of internationally renowned cooperation programmes between municipalities, consultancies and companies to establish environmental management practices at the local level and maintains a successful system of grants and subsidies for environmental improvements. The latter have led to the successful implementation of more than 40,000 measures in Austrian companies over the past 20 years, even though they are not necessarily branded as CSR initiatives. Austria also chose an unconventional approach in the implementation of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive of the European Commission in Austria in 2016/2017. In addition to its translation into national law, the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism concluded a voluntary agreement on minimum standards for auditing sustainability reports with companies, consultancies and auditors (rather than setting guidelines for reporting about itself). This illustrates a certain propensity to employ unconventional and innovative approaches to embedding CSR.