Priority issues for our stakeholders

Materiality analysis is the principle for identifying aspects, relevant to the company and its stakeholders, that significantly affect the ability to create value over time, i.e. material topics that “represent the organisation’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people, including impacts on their human rights”.

Materiality thus ensures, the connection of priority issues with the Group's strategy and ensures that they are considered the expectations of different stakeholders.

Strategic pillars

Local presence

Service quality

ESG dimensions

Governance
Environmental
Social
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Climate change
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Prevenzione dell’inquinamento

Double materiality

Once the impacts had been identified according to the criteria of impact materiality and financial materiality, the relative level of double materiality, understood as the union of the two perspectives of equal importance, was attributed to each topic. 

The double materiality assessment and identification of material topics was reviewed by the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Board of Directors, which approved the results at its meeting on 24 January 2023.

Priority topics

materiality of impacts

materiality

Material topics

SDGs

Impacts

Level

Financial

Double

Governance

SERVICE QUALITY

Growth and value creation for the company and stakeholders

2
8
  •  Implementation of investments that improve the quality of territorial infrastructures, promote green transition and contribute to the social and economic development of the territories in which the company operates
  • Increased value distributed to stakeholders and direct and indirect economic impacts
  • Reduction of the investments required to maintain the efficiency of existing infrastructure with consequent effects on the social and economic development of the territory
  • Reduction in the value distributed to stakeholders and positive economic impacts on local areas
Social

SERVICE QUALITY

Responsibility and quality in service delivery and customer orientation (value chain)

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1
6
7
11
  •  Affordability and service quality measures
  • Development of new products/services that improve the quality of life and sustainable use of resources
  • Improved responsiveness to customer/ citizen needs by virtue of the dialogue/ listening capacity and accessibility of communication/relationship channels
  • Inefficiency and inadequate quality of services
  • Physical and economic inaccessibility of services with repercussions for customers/citizens, especially vulnerable ones
  • Lack of transparency and listening in business practices
Governance

GREEN TRANSITION

Efficient, reliable and safe management of processes and infrastructure

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9
11
12
  • Ensuring constant and continuous access to managed services for citizens/ customers
  • Safety of services managed
  • Improving the environmental impact of services
  •  Economic-social impacts for communities resulting from the absence of essential services
  • Damage to people/things resulting from a decrease in the reliability of infrastructure
  • Uncontrolled circulation of confidential information concerning citizens/clients
Environmental

GREEN TRANSITION

Circular economy and waste management

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12
13
  • Reduction of waste production and consequent improvement of environmental quality
  • Reducing the use of raw materials by extracting new resources from waste
  • Increased waste production and non recovery resulting in a deterioration of environmental quality
  • Reduced availability of raw materials and increased use of fossil fuels
Governance

Solid, ethical and transparent governance for sustainable growth

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16
17
  • Value creation fostered by ethical management, adherence to standards and principles of conduct and stable corporate governance
  • Mitigation of risks with potential external economic, environmental and social impacts
  • Contribution to the dissemination to stakeholders of the principles of integrity and ethics in business activities
  • Loss of value resulting from unethical and non-standard conduct or governance instability
  • Negative external impacts produced by regulatory and/or Code of Ethics violations and failure to manage risks
Environmental

GREEN TRANSITION

Sustainable use of water resources

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6
14
  • Reduction of water withdrawals from the environment for drinking purposes also by reducing consumption and network leaks
  • Safety and quality of water resources for drinking water use
  • Improving the quality of the water resource returned to the environment
  • Contribution to the reduction of water stress, through the reuse of water resources
  • Increased water withdrawals from the environment for drinking purposes
  • Employment, development of human resources, welfare and industrial relations
  • Deterioration in the quality of distributed water 4 8 10 Environmental damage due to inadequate management of water returned to the environment
  • Stress of water resources
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Employment, development of human resources, welfare and industrial relations

4
8
10
  • Employment and professional growth as an opportunity for social development
  • Stability, quality and work-life balance (for example through work flexibility mechanisms) for employees with positive impacts on local communities
  • Dissemination of skills and knowledge in the local area and communities
  • Ensuring decent work for Iren people with positive impacts on local communities
  • Reduced employment opportunities
  • Reduction of current employment levels
  • Depletion of skills in the local area and in communities
  • Slowdown/disruption of operations, and consequently of the continuity/quality of services, due to causes attributable to workers’ strikes
Environmental

GREEN TRANSITION

Energy efficiency and renewable production to reduce environmental and economic impacts

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7
12
13
  • Contribution to green transition by reducing consumption of non-renewable natural and energy resources in production processes
  • Dedicated energy efficiency and self-production services for communities and customers
  •  Stress on non-renewable natural resources
  •  Negative environmental impacts of non renewable energy production (emissions)
Environmental

GREEN TRANSITION

Decarbonization and reduction of emissions

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13
  • Reducing environmental impacts leading to climate change
  • Contribution to the achievement of national and international environmental/climate targets
  • Environmental impacts contributing to climate change
  • Failure to contribute to national and international environmental/climate targets
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Occupational health and safety

3
8
  • Reduction of injuries/occupational diseases and consequent reduction of pressure on health services, thanks to continuous improvement of safety culture
  • Health prevention for Iren people with positive social and economic impacts for the community
  • Increase in work-related injuries and occupational diseases resulting in increased pressure, including economic pressure, on health services
Governance

Effective and transparent dialogue and communication with stakeholders (value chain)

16
17
  • Ensuring clear and transparent information on strategies and activities managed
  • Cultural dissemination and community project development
  • Lack of clear, transparent and accessible information to citizens/customers, on services, and to shareholders and investors
  • Inadequacy of services to stakeholders’ needs
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Protection of human rights (value chain)

8
10
  • Contribution to socio-economic growth that promotes the inalienability of people’s rights throughout the value chain
  • Failure to respect fundamental rights in the value chain
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Diversity and inclusion

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5
10
  • Ensuring equal professional and salary opportunities for less represented categories
  • Contribution to reducing youth unemployment
  • Combating all forms of discrimination
  • Non-inclusive environment affecting, also culturally, the entire value chain
  • Lack of youth employment opportunities
  • Lack of contribution to the reduction of socio-economic gaps for less represented groups
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Sustainable management of the supply chain (value chain)

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8
10
13
  • Reduction of environmental and social impacts generated by the supply chain
  • Promoting a culture of sustainable growth in supply chain enterprises
  • Increased environmental, economic and social impacts related to the supply chain’s failure to adopt sustainability principles and policies
Sociale

LOCAL PRESENCE

Sustainable development of the local areas and communities (value chain)

4
11
17
  • Socio-economic development of communities through dialogue, active listening and collaboration with stakeholders
  • Contribution to territorial resilience to exogenous economic, social and environmental phenomena
  • Creating and disseminating a culture of sustainability to raise awareness of the value of resources
  • Lack of attention to stakeholder demands that may develop socio-economic tensions in communities
  • Weakening of territorial resilience to exogenous economic, social and environmental phenomena
  • Unsustainable use of resources due to lack of culture and knowledge

 

Environmental

GREEN TRANSITION

Biodiversity

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14
15
  • Reducing pollution in air, water and soil to counter biodiversity loss
  • Failure to contribute to the conservation of natural habitats and ecosystems
Social

ENABLING RESOURCES

Innovation, digital transformation and smart cities

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9
11
13
  • Socio-economic development of communities enabled by digitalisation, technological innovation of services and investment to support innovative local cleantech start-ups
  • Reducing environmental impacts on the territory through technological and process innovations and digitalisation
  • Contribution to the territorial innovation and digitalisation system towards a new model of sustainable development resulting from structured collaboration with universities, research centres and other partners in the area
  • Promoting electric mobility in cities
  • Missed opportunities for socio economic progress for the local area and communities
  • Unsustainable use of natural resources and environmental heritage due to technological lag for green transition
  • Impoverishment of the territorial innovation and digitalisation system