Our Responsibilities

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time, so climate action is a key task, especially for companies, which play a key role in achieving climate targets such as making Vienna climate-neutral by 2040. Our Sustainability Circle, made up of a group of employees, is committed to sustainability within the Vienna Business Agency. It calculates our greenhouse gas emissions, which then serve as a basis for subsequent sustainability measures.

How we support companies in Vienna:

• Consultancy on sustainable projects, including in the energy, mobility and sustainable construction sectors.
• Funding programmes like the Vienna Planet Fund for climate-friendly innovation and the Vienna Neighbourhood Initiatives for the reactivated use of vacant properties.
• Real estate projects like the smart Technology Centre Seestadt and the Gewerbehof Seestadt.
• Attracting startups and research institutions that are developing sustainable solutions.

We live in a diverse city and work with a range of different target groups. As an organisation, we strongly believe that diversity enriches us and is an important driver or innovation. We are constantly considering the perspectives and realities of our target groups in our work. Equal opportunities are a key factor in all planning and decision-making. Wherever possible, our projects are designed to help promote equality for all target groups.

Our in-house Diversity Circle, a cross-departmental, self-organised group of committed employees, actively shapes our work on diversity in its many forms. The Diversity Circle is committed to raising awareness of diversity within the Vienna Business Agency and to ensuring that organisation-wide requirements on gender and diversity issues are drawn up and implemented. We are a signatory to the Austrian Diversity Charter and have been awarded the equalitA seal of quality in recognition of our commitment to gender equality within our organisation.

Some examples of how we promote diversity and equal opportunities are: 

• Members of funding juries use a mandatory training tool to eliminate unconscious bias in funding decisions.
• The Business Immigration Office and Expat Center advise people who are moving to Vienna as their new their place of residence and work.
• On occasion, the Vienna Business Agency offers specific funding programmes and bonuses to support women in business. It also runs the Women’s Service, which provides consulting focusing on female entrepreneurs.
• Startup consulting is available in 17 languages.
• The CORE project provides startup support for refugees in Vienna.
• Events and workshops for children and young people teach about science and technology in a child-friendly way.
• In real estate, the focus is on diversity-friendly construction.
• The Vienna Business Agency also offers opportunities that benefit our own team, with rules on flexible parental leave and part-time work, as well as targeted professional development programmes and other activities.

Compliance management at the Vienna Business Agency is based on clear, clean and transparent processes. The number one priority is to back employees in their efforts to prevent misconduct and undesirable developments. The aim is to foster a sense of self-understanding (self-regulation and awareness creation) in each and every person, so as to ensure that the Vienna Business Agency, its member organisations, and employees act in accordance with the rules and do business in compliance with social values and in concordance with moral and ethical norm.

A key feature in the compliance management system employed by Vienna Business Agency is the ability to report professional misconduct and violations against internal regulations or applicable law anonymously through an internal electronic whistle-blower system.

Your reports will be followed up with the utmost diligence and care.