Stakeholder Engagement

Iren Group is committed to creating, strengthening and expanding its relationships with its stakeholders to guarantee them ample space for discussion and dialogue. The criteria for stakeholder engagement are aimed at inclusion, transparency, fairness, focus on ethical, environmental and social issues and consistency with the activities of the Group. Dialogue is based on the principles of inclusiveness, materiality and compliance laid down in the AccountAbility1000 standard in order to address and responsibly respond to issues and impacts.

The objective of long-term sustainable success, referred to in the Corporate Governance Code, which Iren has adopted with effect from 1 January 2021, is also based on the relationship established with its stakeholders. With this in mind, Iren Group ensures the widest and most timely circulation of information to its stakeholders, shareholders, institutional investors and intermediaries operating on the financial market, to enable them to exercise their rights in an informed manner, and during 2021 the Board of Directors of Iren will carry out the most appropriate functional assessments to adopt a formalised policy of dialogue with shareholders and other relevant stakeholders of the Group.

Considering the impact of the Group’s activities on the quality of life of residents and the local region, the main stakeholder categories are represented by the Local Committees, a tool designed to promote dialogue, debate and participatory planning between Iren Group and its stakeholders concerning the company’s services and sustainability topics.

Main Stakeholder categories of Iren Group

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Stakeholder engagement activities and the management of the Local Committees are the responsibility of the Deputy Chairperson, who collaborates with the Corporate Social Responsibility and Local Committees Department which reports directly to the office of the Deputy Chairperson.

Iren has consolidated a process involving stakeholders present in the Local Committees in the materiality analysis (see page 8 of the “Sustainability Report”) to share and assess the priority topics for strategic development and report its performance through the Sustainability Report.

The process compares the Group’s vision with that of the various categories of stakeholders to take on board their contribution in defining the strategy and developing reporting that is increasingly relevant and focused on their real interests, providing a clear framework of policies, actions and results achieved.

Stakeholders are part of the materiality analysis process for strategic and reporting purposes.

For a broader discussion on sustainability topics, in 2020, Iren held in-depth meetings with the Local Committees, participated in seminars and conferences, produced specific publications and took part in a series of streaming talks “The value of the multicircle economy for the sustainable development of the country”, in which the study by The European House Ambrosetti was presented, which showed how Iren is the first Italian multi-utility in terms of development and integration of the principles of the circular economy in the various areas of activity, according to our multi-business approach in which different activities share the value of responsibility in the use of resources.

In order to guarantee broad and transparent information, every year the Sustainability Report is presented to stakeholders and published on the Group’s website and also in 2020 Iren managed internal and external communication activities to deepen the commitment that the Group puts in place to guarantee environmental, social and economic sustainability to its stakeholders.

Iren Local Committees

Iren Local Committees are bodies, set up in 2014, to strengthen and make the dialogue with stakeholders systematic, as well as to guarantee deeper roots in local communities, thanks to participatory planning actions and moments of consultation on aspects such as environmental and social sustainability, innovation and the quality of the services provided by the Group. In order to guarantee and broaden the widespread involvement, the Committees use the www.irencollabora.it on-line platform, where all citizens can make proposals and suggestions directly on the issues dealt with by the Committees, with the aim of generating concrete and tangible projects. The information flow produced by the platform is also a valuable source that inspires Iren to adopt innovative service strategies and anticipate the needs of the local areas. Specific working groups are established within the individual Committees aimed at the development of the projects presented within the Committees or on the Irencollabora.it platform. During 2020, despite the difficult situation caused by the pandemic, 56 meetings of Committees and working groups were held, mostly remotely, and, as of December 2020, there were 1,780 registered profiles and 93 active projects on the platform.

Through Local Committees, stakeholders can also draw the Group’s attention to issues concerning the company’s services, as well as environmental and social sustainability topics. The Deputy Chairperson of Iren, who is a member of the Local Committees, reports regularly to the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Board of Directors, on the trend of the activities and the discussion and planning activities carried out within the Committees.

Priority topics and Stakeholder Engagement initiatives

Customers (retail and business customers, public administrations and consumer associations)