APPLIED METHODOLOGY
The analysis was conducted in three stages, detailed below.
1. Identification of the universe of issues
Preliminary work has enabled us to identify the issues that are both a source of value creation for ENGIE and a priority for its stakeholders:
- Methodological review and initial discussion with ENGIE's Strategy Department and CSR Department teams;
- Internal and external document analysis (macroeconomic trends, strategic supports, CSR, etc.) and identification of priority and strategic issues for the Group;
- Sector benchmarking, identification of best market practices in Europe and internationally and analysis of identified trends;
- Critical review to ensure alignment of the pre-identified issues with the growing expectations of investors and CSR rating agencies.
2. Assessment of issues
In order to assess the importance of the 2020 challenges for ENGIE, the Top Management (members of the Executive Committee and CEO of the Business Unit) as well as numerous internal and external stakeholders of the Group (clients, employees and representatives, suppliers, civil society including experts and NGOs, public authorities and the financial community) were solicited through:
- ~ 30 interviews ;
- 2 panels organized with employees and shareholders;
- ~ 50 questionnaires.
During the interviews, panels and through the questionnaires, the participants were asked to evaluate the impacts related to the 20 main social, environmental and business issues identified for ENGIE.
Each issue was assessed on the basis of several criteria: their importance according to the participant, expectations regarding their management and their impact on ENGIE's strategy. Some issues were identified as significant because of the impact they may have on value creation (i.e. social, environmental and financial) for ENGIE but also because of the impact they may have on ENGIE's environment.
The issues that provide strategic differentiation for ENGIE and the permanent issues have been classified according to the following categories:
- Decisive - dealing with this issue successfully is essential for ENGIE's value creation;
- Major - an issue that contributes significantly to ENGIE's value creation;
- Material - an issue that contributes in a secondary way to the value creation of ENGIE;
- Fundamental - an issue constituting the founding foundation on which ENGIE's activities are based, but which does not represent a strategic differentiation for the Group;
- Non-material - an issue that does not contribute to ENGIE's value creation.
3. Prioritization of issues
The results of the consultations were consolidated and analyzed according to the following methodology:
- A score was allocated to each issue category (the fundamental issues were listed separately to reflect their importance for the Group's activities in the final representation) ;
- The average of the results obtained for the members of the Top Management was calculated for each issue without any weighting;
- In order to ensure the absence of bias, the stakeholder ratings were aggregated by stakeholder typology. A specific weighting was assigned according to the number of respondents and the collection method in order to enhance the value of the interviews and with the objective of balancing the weight of each typology in the final score as much as possible;
- The ratings according to the two axes (abscissa for Top Management and ordinate for stakeholders) were then consolidated in order to obtain a final positioning of each priority issue.
ISSUES DEFINITIONS
| Responsible Leadership & Governance | Ensure exemplary and transparent leadership and governance, adapted to the strategic challenges; ensure transparency and integrity of information through reliable communication, effective management of potential controversies and ENGIE's brand image; ensure the clarity of the Group's objectives; ensure that the Group's actions are consistent with its purpose. |
| Digital | Put our digital expertise at the service of the energy transition by offering our customers innovative and differentiating solutions and services; leverage these technologies to improve the Group's operational efficiency and to strengthen cohesion between our employees through new collaborative tools. |
| Sustainable growth | Ensure the resilience of the Group's business model as well as the growth of financial results over the long term; guarantee value sharing with all stakeholders (incentive-based compensation for senior management and all employees; ensure shareholder attractiveness and loyalty); limit the risk of stranded assets; ensure stability in terms of financial and CSR ratings. |
| Security and resilience of installations | Ensure the operating safety of facilities and business continuity by guaranteeing: the security and surveillance of the Group's sensitive sites (nuclear and industrial), the resilience and adaptation of facilities to climatic risks, the cybersecurity of industrial systems, the confidentiality and protection of the personal data of our employees and clients; ensure the dismantling of nuclear sites under the required security conditions. |
| Skill & Employee engagement | Encourage employees to take ownership of ENGIE's purpose, strategy and values by making them actors in their deployment; strengthen the relationship of trust between management and employees; explore and develop new ways of working adapted to employees’ needs; ensure quality social dialogue within the Group; to capitalize on employees' skills and support them in their professional development; attract and develop talent; strengthen intrapreneurship in our practices |
| Occupational health & safety | Guarantee safety and optimal working conditions for our employees, contractors and subcontractors in all geographic areas where the Group operates. |
| Diversity & inclusion in the workplace | Promote equal opportunities and make equal treatment a reality; ensure non-discrimination with respect to both our employees and our candidates; promote diversity of profiles and experience at all levels of the company. |
| Circular economy | Encourage circularity throughout the value chain by guaranteeing the recycling, reuse and recovery of resources in operations; control the consumption of resources (responsible consumption); ensure efficient use of raw materials. |
| Preservation of biodiversity, water and the environment | Prevent and control the impact of the Group's operations on biodiversity, water and the environment (noise pollution, soil pollution, water and air pollution); be a player and driving force in environmental protection and contribute to the restoration of natural habitats through targeted and concrete commitments. |
| Low carbon transformation | Acting positively for the environment and the climate by ensuring a clear and ambitious shift towards low-carbon activities, by withdrawing from carbon activities, by developing offers aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the Group's customers, by controlling the carbon footprint of our supply chains and our working practices (ways of working). |
| Renewable electricity generation | Strengthen our investment in a competitive and sustainable portfolio of renewable energy power generation activities and ensure their local acceptability; anticipate new renewable energy sources and be a player in their deployment. |
| Green gases | Sustainably develop the entire green gas value chain (biomethane, hydrogen); raise awareness among our clients and stakeholders of the role of green gases as levers for resilience and performance in the energy transition. |
| Centralised and decentralised energy infrastructures | Pursue the development of gas and electricity energy infrastructures as well as decentralized infrastructures (heating and cooling networks, networks of charging stations for electric vehicles, urban public lighting networks, etc.); take advantage of new technologies for the intelligent and connected management of networks and infrastructures. |
| Agility & Innovation | Change the corporate culture towards greater agility and openness to innovation; strengthen our ability to evolve (adaptation of business models and group organization, transformation of working methods, development of intrapreneurship, etc.) in the face of changes in the Group's environment (expectations, uses, etc.). |
| Dialogue with our customers | Engage in a strategic dialogue with our current and historical clients in order to best support them in their low-carbon transformation; make all our clients aware of our values and commitments; develop a quality partnership relationship and adapt to the specificities of our geographical locations; commit to long-term performance (energy, carbon, etc.) with our clients. |
| Business ethics & conformity | Ensure responsible business conduct through robust and transparent ethical practices in operational activities (e.g. anti-corruption, taxation). |
| Impact and development of communities and stakeholders | Work for the respect of human rights throughout our value chain ; maintain a continuous and quality dialogue with stakeholders ; develop new partnership dynamics; contribute positively to territorial development, while respecting local communities and taking into account changing needs ; contribute to a fair and efficient energy transition ; encourage a more inclusive and equitable economy. |
| Sustainable finance | Work towards sustainable finance through: promoting responsible financial instruments (green bonds, etc.), integrating ESG issues into the investment process in order to encourage the development of sustainable activities; demonstrate the alignment of ENGIE's actions with the growing expectations of investors and CSR rating agencies; anticipating and adapting to regulatory changes in this area. |
| Sustainable supply chain (goods, services, energy) | Promote ENGIE's CSR practices throughout its supply chains; foster quality dialogue with its suppliers; forge strategic partnerships for sustainable development; control the social and environmental risks related to the activity and geographic location of suppliers of goods, services and energy; favor a diversified panel of suppliers in order to guarantee business continuity. |
| Energy efficiency and sufficienc | Support an individual and collective approach to technical changes, uses, practices and organizational methods aimed at reducing energy consumption; at all levels of the Group: daily work practices, operations, supply chain and at our clients' sites through our offers as well as at the level of our infrastructures. |
MAIN LESSONS LEARNED
The 20 issues pre-identified as priorities all captured the interest of the stakeholders consulted. No additional issues were identified during the consultations.
In the materiality matrix, the issues are divided into four dimensions according to the categories used for classification. The fundamental issues are represented as containing all the other issues; they are the founding foundation of ENGIE's activities.
As no issue was found to be non-material, the origin of the matrix has been replaced at the level of material issues in order to increase the readability of the results by preserving the distribution of issues on the matrix.
For ease of reading, the issues are divided between :
- “Levers of value creation", represented by circles;
- “Strategic priorities", represented by squares.
The results of the materiality matrix confirm the consistency between stakeholders' expectations and the priorities identified by ENGIE in its strategy. All of the key strategic priorities are consistent with the Group's development priorities.
Four fundamental issues (occupational health and safety, safety and resilience of facilities, ethics and compliance, diversity and inclusion in the workplace) have been identified as structuring elements of ENGIE's activities and are associated with key objectives.
The challenges of the low-carbon transition and sustainable growth stand out as the most decisive, along with the challenges associated with the Group's strategic priorities: renewable energies, green gases, energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and sobriety. Responsible leadership and governance appear to be essential elements to guarantee the success of this ambition and the consistency of ENGIE with its purpose.
The materiality analysis also confirms the importance for the Group of mobilizing its employees and using sustainable finance tools.
Changes between 2017 and 2020
All of the 2017 issues are integrated into the new materiality matrix but are further specified in ENGIE's 2020 strategy, particularly on topics related to climate, innovation and energy efficiency. In general, the scope has been broadened, with in particular multiple challenges around the energy transition on the climate issue.
The analysis also identified emerging issues in which ENGIE is positioning itself as a key player, including renewable energies (particularly sustainable electricity), green gases, biodiversity and the circular economy. In addition, the new sustainable finance issue highlights the integration of companies' ESG performance into the investment process and the use of responsible finance tools (bonds & green loans).