With up to 20,000 participants and around 100,000 spectators along the course, the Linz Danube Marathon is an annual fixture in the Upper Austrian sporting calendar. This year, voestalpine will once again support the 22nd edition of the running event on April 7 as a strong partner, as well as providing the winners' trophies. Numerous voestalpine employees will also be lacing up their running shoes.
With its involvement in the Linz Danube Marathon, the international steel and technology group based in the Upper Austrian capital once again emphasizes its commitment to the region. As an important leading company and employer in Upper Austria, voestalpine employs over 11,000 people at its headquarters and the Group's largest single site in Linz alone. Alongside Donawitz in Styria, the site is also at the center of the transformation to green steel production. With greentec steel, voestalpine has launched Austria's largest climate protection program. The Group aims to produce CO2-neutral steel by 2050 - another marathon. The first intermediate stage will be reached when emissions can be reduced by up to 30% from 2027 by replacing one blast furnace each at the Linz and Donawitz sites with an electric arc furnace powered by green electricity.
The Group's largest training center is also located in Linz, where around 400 young professionals are currently being trained. It has now become a tradition that the trophies for the various Linz Marathon competitions are made by voestalpine apprentices in the modern training workshop. As in previous years, the exclusive winning trophies for the best runner over the marathon distance come from the 3D printer. voestalpine is a global pioneer in this process, in which the finest metal powder is melted and built up layer by layer into highly complex parts.
With the Linz Marathon, we are supporting a top event that is known beyond the country's borders and stands for the joy of running and top performance. I am also particularly pleased that numerous voestalpine employees will be at the starting line again this year.
Special goodie bags, T-shirts and a quota of free starts for relay teams provide additional motivation for employees. At the same time, numerous kilometers can once again be collected for the "voestalpine cares run" during the marathon competitions. Following its great success last year, the Group-wide exercise initiative started its second edition in March. Until the end of May, all voestalpine employees can use an app to collect digital points - so-called "cares" - by running, walking, hiking, wheelchair riding, and hand biking, which the steel and technology group will convert into donations for charitable causes. Last year, a total of 700,000 euros was handed over to aid organizations for selected projects in Germany and abroad.
voestalpine is a globally leading steel and technology group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its premium products and system solutions, voestalpine is a leading partner to the automotive and consumer goods industries, as well as to the aerospace and oil & natural gas industries. The company is also the global market leader in railway systems, tool steel, and special sections. voestalpine is committed to the global climate goals and has a clear plan for decarbonizing steel production with its greentec steel program. In the business year 2022/23, the Group generated revenue of EUR 18.2 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 2.5 billion; it has around 51,200 employees worldwide.
