OekoBusinessWien is the Viennese environmental service program, which was created in 1998 by the city of Vienna - environmental protection. Through the project, Viennese companies are supported in the implementation of environmentally relevant measures in their operations, for example to reduce operating costs and save resources. The aim of the co-financing program is to support Viennese companies in environmental issues with a wide range of offers in order to achieve clean profits for the environment and companies through ecological management on the one hand and high quality and financial advantages through environmental protection within the companies on the other. OekoBusinessWien's services include professional, subsidized consulting, assistance in the practical implementation of measures, legal security and effective public relations.

The NPO & SE Competence Center of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU) was commissioned by the Vienna Environmental Protection Department to determine the social and economic added value of the OekoBusinessWien co-financing program for the years 2017 and 2018 by means of a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis. The analysis was based on qualitative and quantitative surveys conducted in the period 2019 to 2020.

Based on the conducted surveys and calculations, the total monetarized effects for the years 2017 and 2018 amount to EUR 29,144,498. This compares to investments of 12,725,321 Euro. Comparing the total investments from 2017 and 2018 with the sum of the monetarized effects, the SROI value is 2.29. This means that each invested euro creates effects in the monetarized equivalent of 2.29 euros. The investments thus return more than twice as positive effects for society as a whole. If one considers that the investments in OekoBusinessWien measures are due to the investments of the City of Vienna, the Federal Government and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce in the OekoBusiness co-financing programme and the resulting consulting services, the impact of OekoBusinessWien is significantly higher. The investments in the OekoBusinessWien co-financing program in the amount of 2 million Euros leverage further investments in environmental measures, which result in an added social value of 29.1 million Euros. Taking this leverage effect into account, the SROI value is 1:14.50. This means that each Euro invested in OekoBusinessWien leverages further investments and thus produces social effects amounting to 14.50 Euro. This underlines the effective work of OekoBusinessWien.

The analysis also examined OekoBusinessWien's contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis shows that a large part of the social impacts produced by OekoBusinessWien are reflected in the SDGs. The program addresses 11 of the 17 SDGs, whereby the goals "Decent Work and Economic Growth", "Sustainable Consumption and Production" and "Measures for Climate Protection" are particularly pursued.

In summary, the results of the study show that OekoBusinessWien motivates companies to take action in the field of sustainability, promotes networking and exchange and creates awareness for socially and ecologically sustainable business practices. In this way OekoBusinessWien makes a significant contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and is also socially effective beyond the immediate environmental impact.

Contact