2014 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements
9 Gruppo Hera il Bilancio consolidato e d esercizio Introduzione Relazione sulla gestione CHAPTER 1 Report on Operations
1.07 SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES In 2014, the Group achieved further positive results as regards social and environmental sustainability, implementing numerous projects both across and within each business sector. Sustainability: a central factor in Hera s strategy Sustainability has played a central role in Hera s strategy ever since the company was established, and the approach presently adopted by the Group calls for sustainability to be integrated in its planning and control systems. This aspect has also been concretely applied through both the introduction of a balanced scorecard system that involves all levels of management, and the constant commitment concerning accountability towards stakeholders that is substantiated in the Sustainability Report. The Group s high level of attention towards systems of values was corroborated in 2014 when the Board of Directors approved the third edition of the Code of Ethics, updated with the contribution of the Groups workers. The Code of Ethics was then distributed to all of the Group s employees and was the topic of seminars intended to raise awareness, attended by managers and administrators. The results achieved as to sustainability, and the main initiatives carried out in 2014, include the following areas: OHSAS 18001 Personnel development and workplace safety as top priorities Thanks to both programs dedicated to raising awareness and the adoption of OHSAS 18001 certification, in 2014 the rate of work-related accidents showed a further decrease, reaching 21.5 (compared to 23.9 in 2013). The OHSAS 18001 system was extended to AcegasApsAmga as well, leading to a rise from 73% to 90% in the amount of workers with safety certification active in the Group s companies. Lastly, training remains on a very high level: in 2014 the average number of training hours per capita reached 28 (against 26.4 in 2013). Waste management: an increase in sorted waste Waste management at the leading edge in Italy, in line with European best practice A further decrease in the use of landfills to dispose of urban waste was seen in 2014, reaching 12.9%, compared with 16.4% in the previous financial year. Sorted waste rose from 52.6% to 54%. These positive results were flanked by the environmental performance of the Group s 10 WTE plants, that in 2014 as well registered modest levels of emission into the atmosphere, on average 86% lower than the limits defined by law. In 2014 as well Hera provided its clients with guarantees, through the publication of its report On the traces of waste - controlled by an external body, DNV-GL, and extended in 2014 to AcegasApsAmga as well - as to actual waste recovery, that reached 93.8% of sorted waste collection. Service quality and customer proximity In 2014 as well, quality standards in customer contact services were elevated: the average waiting time for customer call centres reserved for resident customers decreased once again, falling for both HeraComm and AcegasApsAmga under 45 seconds. And, in 2014 the results of the Group s help desks also improved: the average waiting time was 11.1 minutes for HeraComm and 17.3 minutes for AcegasApsAmga. Customer relations Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 24 March 2015 65
sustainability was furthermore marked by an increase in online services (registered customers rose by 14.4% in 2014) and electronic billing (requested by 9% of customers). High quality in customer services, to which various initiatives were dedicated For its customers, in 2014 Hera created and implemented the following initiatives: Responsibility charter: an instrument aimed at achieving higher transparency, it contains the voluntary self-regulation protocol stipulated by resolution 153/2012/R/com of the Authority for electricity, gas and water services (AEEGSI) with the objective of protecting customers and eliminating the phenomenon of non-solicited energy contracts; SOStegno Hera: an information package concerning tariff benefits, whether provided for by current regulations or voluntarily introduced by Hera, and the possibility of paying bills by instalments; Water leakage fund: an instrument that equally covers the entire area of Emilia Romagna served by Hera, that protects clients in case of hidden leaks in the water supply network downstream of the meter; Hera Day and Hera Start-up offers: the first allows clients to receive equal bills over the course of the year, without having to sustain exceptional, non-foreseen expenses, and the second is dedicated to new enterprises and foresees advantageous conditions for energy, telephone and data transmission services. Commitment to energy efficiency A constant increase in attention towards energy efficiency In 2014, the Group (4 th operator nationwide as regards white certificate obligations) confirmed its own commitment to energy efficiency, proposing 15 new projects to the Authority for energy services (GSE), to be added to the 35 presented in the previous financial year. In 2014, Hera SpA obtained the ISO 50001 energy management system certification. Hera S.p.A. s energy improvement plan foresees over 45 interventions, for expected fully operational savings of over 3,000 toe/year. Numerous energy efficiency initiatives are carried out for client/partner businesses, to whom the Group makes its own know-how available. Strong attention towards sustainability in the water cycle In 2014, the main interventions were directed towards the reorganisation of the sewer and purification system in Rimini (the interventions foreseen by the Piano di Salvaguardia della Balneazione Ottimizzato continued), the beginning of upgrading works on the Servola (Trieste) purification plant and the upgrading and/or energy saving interventions on the following purification plants: Molinella (Bo; concluded in 2014), Bologna (IDAR), Cesenatico (Fc) and Cattolica (Rn; that will conclude in 2015). Attention to sustainability along the supply chain Sustainability along the supply chain In 2014 as well, in selecting its suppliers the Group favoured a method based on the most economically advantageous offer: 76.5% of the value of the resources were allocated with this criterion. The average score reserved for social and environmental aspects was 25/100. Work opportunities for disadvantaged persons allowed the value of social cooperative suppliers to grow, reaching 37.7 million euros (+6% with respect to 2013, over an equal area) last year. Supplies from local suppliers grew to 67%, while spin-off employment is estimated at roughly 6,780 workers, confirming the Group s leading role in contributing to the area s growth. Supplier monitoring, according to regulation SA8000, Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 24 March 2015 66
continued in 2014, as did monitoring of work-related accidents within the main suppliers (those involved in the monitoring represent 75% of the value of service and work supplies). Activities in environmental education in schools, and other innovative initiatives for communities and sustainable development of the reference area Attention towards the territory and its communities In 2014 as well, activities in environmental education in public schools continued, with the consolidation of two initiatives, La grande macchina del mondo and Un pozzo di scienza: over 64 thousand students were involved. Attention towards the reference area resulted, in 2014, in the campaign Regala un albero alla tua città : having reached the target of 100 thousand new requests for electronic billing will allow 2,000 trees to be planted in 44 municipalities; 570 were already planted in 2014. Other innovative initiatives that bear witness to the Group s attention towards the communities found in its territory, and its sustainable development, include the following. 1 The publicly available app Il rifiutologo (installed by over 54 thousand people), that provides information as to the correct ways to sort waste and allows any malfunctions to be signalled via smartphone; 2 The implementation of numerous waste reduction projects, some of which with positive social effects (for example, Cambia il finale, FarmacoAmico, CiboAmico ) that prevented over 9,100 tonnes of waste being produced in 2014, corresponding to the annual production of approximately 14,800 people; 3 Continued promotion of electric mobility, including the competition Electric Road whose prize consisted in the use, for 3 months, of 6 electric cars in the municipalities of Modena and Imola; 4 The extension to 5 local areas of the experimental HeraLAB multi-stakeholder local committees, whose aim is to listen to local communities and to develop initiatives to improve the sustainability of services managed by Hera. The 5 active HeraLABs saw the overall participation of 57 representatives of the various categories of stakeholders nominated by the Board of Directors. Of the initiatives proposed by LAB, 7 were implemented in 2014. 5 In June 2014, the first Italian Green Bond was launched. The bonds issued amounted to 500 million (maturing in 10 years, with a coupon of 2.375% and yield of 2.436%), a sum destined to financing or refinancing projects tied to sustainability in four areas: combating climate change, reduced emission, quality in water purification and the waste cycle. The list of projects financed or refinanced by these bonds was defined by Hera on the basis of accurate environmental criteria and certified by DNV-GL. Guarantees as to the real destination of the assets raised by these initiatives will be published each year, for the entire duration of the bonds, in the Group s Sustainability Report (verified by DNV GL), including reports on that which has been allocated to each project, specifying the environmental performances reached as well (for example, CO2 reduction, or renewable energy produced). In the following paragraphs, concise overviews of a number of areas and activities are provided; for a more detailed analysis, see the Sustainability Report. Approved by the Hera Spa Board of Directors on 24 March 2015 67