Consolidated Financial Statements

Transcription

1 2015 Consolidated Financial Statements

2 chapter 1 REport on operations

3 1.07 SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES The year 2015 was very positive for the Group in terms of social and environmental sustainability, as attested by the results and by the interconnecting programs and projects underway. Sustainability has had a key role in Hera's strategy since its establishment and the Group s approach provides for the integration of sustainability in planning and control systems. This has been implemented through: a balanced scorecard system linked to incentives and involving the entire management (sustainability goals account - on average - for 20% of the variable manager remuneration in 2015); a progressive improvement of the Group s accountability profile, as attested by the sustainability report (covering the maximum application level of the GRI-G4 guidelines) as well as by the thematic vertical reports available to the stakeholders (these were furtherly extended and improved in 2015). Our strong focus on value systems continued in 2015 with the extension of the seminars for managers, executives and new recruits, aimed to raise awareness of the Code of Ethics and of corporate social responsibility, as well as with the launch of the AlfabEtico training program in AcegasApsAmga (ending in 2016), which will gradually involve all of the employees. The sustainability goals achieved and the main events carried out in 2015 have covered the following areas: Safety at work, internal climate and professional development Following the awareness programs and the OHSAS certification, covering" 89% of the Group's employees, the 2015 accident frequency rate dropped, equalling 20.7 (vs 22,6 in 2014). This reduction was recorded in all of the Group's main companies as well as in the labour force population, for which the frequency rate decreased by 11% compared to The sixth company climate survey (surveys have been conducted every two years since 2005) showed an employee satisfaction rate equalling 63/100 (in line with the target) with a 2-point growth compared to the previous survey. Based on the result, steps for further improvement were defined. Some of the "work-life balance" initiatives are noteworthy: 30 Hera employees children in the Hera pre-schools and 152 in the summer centres made available in Finally, the training saw a further increase in 2015, with 31.4 average training hours per capita (vs 28 hours in 2014). Waste management: state-of-the-art in Italy, consistent with EU circular economy courses The year 2015 saw a further drop in landfill use for urban waste disposal: 8.1% against 13.3% in the previous year (Italian 2014 average: 34%). Separate collection increased from 54% to 55,6% (Italian 2014 average: 45.2%). Such results are consistent with the European Commission s pathway covering the December 2015 circular economy package, which sets forth a number of detailed recycling and landfill disposal targets as of 2030; some of these have already been met in the Hera territory. The environmental performance results of the Group s 10 waste-to-energy plants are encouraging; atmosphere emissions were very limited in 2015 and, on average, 84% lower than the tolerance. Finally, in November last year Hera issued the 6 edition of the Tracing waste Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 22 March

4 report - this is certified by an independent body, DNV-GL, and was extended in 2015 to Marche Multiservizi providing citizens with factual evidence that separate collection is still on the rise and that it equals 94.3%. Service quality and customer support. Hera Comm s customer contact quality standards were raised again in 2015: the average waiting time at the call center decreased, equalling 30 seconds for residential and 26 seconds for business customers. Front desk results have also improved: the average waiting time was 8.9 minutes in In the Triveneto, contact channel performances suffered the transfer of the IT invoicing systems towards the Group s systems, but a strong improvement is expected in The constantly rising web-run accounts also affected customer support sustainability: customers registering for online Services rose to 15.9% in 2015, whereas applications for the electronic bill rose to 13.8% (+12% and +58% respectively). The 2015 survey on the Group s service quality (about 5,300 interviews) recorded a high customer satisfaction rate (70/100; increasing numbers compared to the previous year). Survey data will be used to define further progress, in addition to the measures being planned within the Customer experience project, launched in 2015 and aiming to improve the customers experience with Hera. Enercy efficiency among the priorities AcegasApsAmga and Marche Multiservizi obtained the ISO certification for energy management system in 2015; this is now our 6th ISO certified company. The implemented ISO measures (incorporated into the energy improvement plan) have already enabled us to reduce energy consumption by about 1,500 tep. The improvement plan defined in 2015 provides further energy efficiency steps (totalling 2,900 tep) to be implemented by 2016, allowing a 2.3% total saving compared to energy consumption in To support the Group's commitment in this area, "Value for Energy" - the first report entirely focused on energy efficiency - was published and presented to the public at Ecomondo. In addition, many energy efficiency measures are carried out with customer / partner companies, to which the Group offers its know-how (also through Hera Energy Services, founded in early 2015). Strong commitment to sewage treatment sustainability In 2015, the main measures were aimed to redesign the Rimini sewage and purification system (2 out of 11 interventions under the Optimized Bathing Safeguard Plan. These included the doubling of the S. Giustina purifier), the refurbishment of the Servola purifier in Trieste (remediation was accomplished and a supplier for the system executive design and adaptation was identified), as well as upgrading the purifying efficiency (and/or reducing energy consumption) for the Bologna (IDAR), Padua (Cà Nordio), Cesenatico (Fc) and Cattolica (Rn) purifiers, which will be completed by Focus on sustainability extends to the supply chain. Even in 2015, upon selecting its suppliers the Group prioritized the most profitable bid method used in public procurement procedures, so accounting for 2/3 of the total value of the allotments. The average score for social and environmental aspects amounted to 24/100. Disadvantaged people employment resulted in a further growth in the value of supplies from social cooperatives, which reached 46.5 million euro last year (+ 4% compared to 2014). Supplies from local providers grew by 68%, while the estimated Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 22 March

5 employment spin-off equals about 5,650 people, which confirms the Group's primary role in territorial development. Supplier monitoring under SA8000 regulation continued in 2015, as did the accident research monitoring for the leading suppliers (those involved in such monitoring account for 79% of the value of goods and services). Focus on territory and communities. Environmental education in schools was still carried out in 2015; in all of the areas, 'The Great World Machine' and 'The Science Well' events were consolidated, with over 78,000 participants. Our focus on the territory resulted in a revival of the 'Gift your city a tree' campaign in 2015, with a new target of 50,000 electronic bill subscribers, associated to an additional 1,000 trees for 74 municipalities partnering with us in the initiative. Thanks to the first campaign, launched in 2012, 1,747 trees (out of 2,000 trees in the plan) have already been planted in 42 municipalities. Other evidence of our innovative focus on community and on local sustainable development are: the spread of the 'Il Rifiutologo' (The Wastologist) app, installed by over 79,000 people, which informs users about correct separate collection while enabling them to report malpractice through their smartphone (activated in all of the 136 municipalities served by Hera Spa, as well as in Padua and Trieste); the extension of several waste reduction programs (eg 'Change the final', 'FarmacoAmico', 'CiboAmico'), resulted in encouraging social outcomes (preventing about 5,300 tons of waste, i.e. the yearly production of about 8,700 people, from being produced in 2015); the extension of the pilot scheme for the multi-stakeholder local committee 'HeraLAB' to the Modena area, to interface with the local communities' needs and to develop better sustainability in the Hera-managed services. As many as 68 representatives from different stakeholder categories, appointed by the Board of Directors, are involved in the 6 active local HeraLABs. There are 17 schemes proposed by LAB in 2015, 8 of which have already been completed. A synthetic reference to specific areas and activities is in the following paragraphs; for further analysis, see Sustainability Report. Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 22 March