2014-03-24 Stakeholder survey confirms Vattenfall's prioritised sustainability areas. It's of great importance for Vattenfall to listen to its stakeholders and understand their expectations. The company's stakeholders have been identified by identifying the groups of stakeholders along Vattenfall s value chain that are either impacted by or have an impact on Vattenfall s operations. Eight main stakeholder groups have been identified: Owners, decision makers, authorities, NGOs, financial markets, suppliers, customers, employees and the public/media. By listening to its stakeholders, Vattenfall can identify challenges and opportunities associated with the company s operations. Through this, Vattenfall can gain an understanding for and insight into which priorities the company must set in order to gradually reduce its negative impacts and increase its positive impacts on the environment and communities, and thereby be a more sustainable company. Communicating with stakeholders is a part of Vattenfall s day -to-day activities and includes such measures as dialogues with the owner, authorities and industry organisations. Vattenfall also conducts various surveys focusing on topics such as the company s brand, customer confidence and customer satisfaction, and employee surveys. Vattenfall s sustainability areas Based on dialogues with stakeholders, the owner s directive and Vattenfall s own assessment of the company's impact on the environment, the economy and society over the whole of the value chain, Vattenfall identified a number of prioritised sustainability areas during 2013. By striving for continuous improvements in these areas, Vattenfall will gradually become a more sustainable company. Impact w ithin/outside Vattenfall Within Vattenfall (Within Vattenfall's direct control, direct link to Vattenfall's own operations) Impact Large proportion of fossil energy sources and consequently large emissions of CO2 Oil spills and emissions of Nox, Sox and other airborne substances Resource efficiency (water, energy and w aste) Impact on biodiversity Health and safety of our employees Equality, equal opportunities and a skilled w orkforce Anti-corruption, business ethics Identified sustainability area Transform Vattenfall s production portfolio tow ards lower CO2 emissions and more renew ables Increase focus on other emissions Improve resource efficiency in Vattenfall s operations Protect nature and species and safeguard biodiversity Ensure a safe and healthy w orkplace Focus on Vattenfall's employees Safeguard the company s integrity Outside Vattenfall (outside Vattenfall's direct control, not directly linked to Vattenfall's operations) Impact on local communities Sustainability risks in the supply chain suppliers of fuel and products and services Our customers' energy consumption Take responsibility for Vattenfall's impacts on local communities Ensure sustainability in the supply chain Offer customers solutions that enable sustainable use of energy
The results of the stakeholder survey confirm the sustainability areas In order to confirm that the sustainability areas correspond to stakeholders' expectations of Vattenfall, a stakeholder survey was carried out during autumn 2013. A total of 331 people took part in the survey, 93 of them external and 238 employees. Representatives from all the stakeholder groups on Vattenfall's main markets (the Nordic region, the Netherlands and Germany) and at EU level were invited to take part. Based on Vattenfall's operations, the stakeholders were asked to rank each area individually, to rank them against each other and to evaluate Vattenfall's current performance in each area. They were also given the opportunity to say if, in their opinion, any area was missing. The results from stakerholders' ranking of the areas on an individual basis indicated that there was a strong correlation with stakeholders' expectations of the company. More than 70% of respondents said that all ten areas were of major or significant importance for Vattenfall. This indicates that the ten sustainability areas identified by Vattenfall are very much in line with stakeholders' expectations of the company and can be seen as verified. From the open-ended comments, it was clear that Vattenfall's stakeholders want to know more about future energy solutions and what Vattenfall is doing in the field of research and development. Consequently, clarification was given that this is part of the sustainability area "Transform the production portfolio".
The results by stakeholder group show that views among the various stakeholder groups are similar. Environment related areas were generally ranked high by all respondents. "Transform the production portfolio" was in the top three for all stakeholder groups. Stakeholder group Top 3 areas by stakeholder group Owners All areas (100%) Authorities/politicians/de Increase focus on other emissions (73%), Improve resource efficiency (73%), cision makers Transform portfolio (67%) Transform portfolio (77%), Sustainable customer solutions (69%), Protect our NGOs integrity (62%) Financial markets Transform our portfolio (75%), Other (50%) Transform portfolio (63%), Protect our integrity (63%), Improve resource efficiency Suppliers (63%) Transform portfolio (80%), Improve resource efficiency (68%), Sustainable Customers customer solutions (64%), Protect our integrity (64%) Transform portfolio (96%), Sustainable energy solutions (79%), Improve resource Public/media efficiency (69%), Increase focus on other emissions (69%) Vattenfall employees Transform portfolio (55%), Protect our integrity (53%), Focus on employees (51%) The results of stakeholders' ranking of the areas against each other (they were asked to specify the three areas with the highest priority) indicate that the following areas have the highest priority among Vattenfall's external stakeholders: 1) Transform Vattenfall s production portfolio towards lower CO2 emissions and more renewables 2) Offer customer solutions that enable sustainable use of energy 3) Improve resource efficiency in Vattenfall s operations These three areas correspond to Vattenfall's sustainability targets.
Stakeholders' assessment of Vattenfall's performance The results of the stakeholder survey indicate that there is a need to improve communication regarding Vattenfall's work in the ten areas, since many respondents said that they were unable to rate Vattenfall's performance. The results also indicate that the majority of Vattenfall's stakeholders believe that Vattenfall is under-performing in the area "Transform the production portfolio", an area which corresponds to two of Vattenfall's sustainability targets (Reduce CO2 exposure and Growth within renewables). It is Vattenfall's aim that the rating of Vattenfall's performance will improve continuously, taking the results for 2013 as a baseline.
Continuous improvements within the sustainability areas will be steered and followed up yearly using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI-G4), and internal scorecards In order to steer and follow up continuous improvement for each area starting from 2013, Vattenfall uses the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Version G4, at core level, as well as internal scorecards. Vattenfall has identified the aspects and indicators from GRI G4 which best follow up the respective sustainability area (see overview below). These identified aspects and indicators will be followed up annually. Vattenfall can only report reliable data within the company, i.e. the company's own units, and, unless stated otherwise, does not define any limits within the units. You can read about the results for 2013 in Vattenfall's Annual and Sustainability Report 2013, starting with the GRI index on page 132-135. Prioritised sustainability area Customer solutions that enable sustainable use of energy Identified GRI aspect GRI indicators Products and services Customer satisfaction: PR(5) Transform Vattenfall s production portfolio to lower CO2 and more renewable generation Energy Emissions Future technologies (sector-specific aspect, formerly EU8) Direct energy consumption EN(3) Reduction of CO2 emissions EN (15,18) Increase focus on other emissions Emissions Nox, Sox and other airborne emissions (EN 21) Improve resource efficiency in Vattenfall's operations Water Waste Water consumption EN (8, 22) Waste EN(23) Protect nature and species and safeguard biodiversity Biodiversity Biodiversity EN(11) Take responsibility for Vattenfall's impacts on local communities Local communities Economic development Impact on local communities SO(1), EC(1) EU(19) Ensure a safe and healthy workplace Employee's health and safety Health and safety LA(6) Focus on Vattenfall's employees Diversity and equality Training Diversity and equality: LA (12) Evaluation and follow-up: LA(11) Safeguard the company s integrity Anti-corruption Anti-competitive activities Anti-corruption and business ethics SO(4): SO(7) Ensure sustainability in the supply chain Human rights Implementation of the Code of Conduct for suppliers HR(10)