€1,580 million of economic value generated (+9.9%); ozone-depleting substances cut by 7.8%
Included in FTSE4Good index; +10 points on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index; Board of Directors entrusted with supervising sustainability issuesMilan, 31 May 2016. Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has published its fifth Sustainability Report prepared in accordance with the G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, adopting new KPIs and reporting on 76 GRI indicators.
Worthy of notice among the main results of 2015 was the growth of economic value generated which rose 9.9% to €1,580 million compared to € 1,438 million for 2014. This figure includes the remuneration of human resources, shareholders, minority interests and the Public Administration, contributions to the communities and the value retained by the Company.
The development of innovative, sustainable products continued across all business segments. During the year, the Group expanded its Afumex Green line of cables, including Afumex Green 1kV, currently the most sustainable and safest cable on the market thanks to the replacement of the traditional petroleum-derived polyethylene, used for insulation, with bio-polyethylene (green polyethylene), a material developed from sugarcane that is 100% renewable, has international certification, and reduces CO2 emissions.
The initiatives undertaken by Prysmian to reduce its own environmental impacts included the launch of a project aimed at achieving a more systematic analysis of the environmental impact of cables through the implementation of Life Cycle Assessment methods to the tools used to define products, in terms of materials to be assembled and the processing cycles required. Moreover, in 2015 emissions of ozone-depleting substances decreased by 7.8%, and at year-end ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications had been awarded to 91% and 63% of facilities, respectively.
Progress was also made in sustainable management of the supply chain, through the implementation of the Code of Business Conduct aimed at spreading responsible business practices and enhancing screening initiatives by including sustainability principles in the process of selecting and approving new suppliers.
After the extensive engagement achieved in the first two years, Prysmian re-opened the YES (Your Employee Shares) programme, the stock ownership plan which offers employees the possibility to acquire Prysmian shares at discounts. The participation of approximately 40% of employees, with an investment of nearly €17 million or 1% of capital, convinced the Shareholders’ Meeting to renew the plan for the next three years.
A focus on human capital was also ensured by the constant involvement in training activity at the Prysmian Group Academy, the training school that in 2015 was attended by over 700 employees.
Amongst the noteworthy results achieved through the improvement of sustainability performances, Prysmian Group was included in the prestigious FTSE4Good Global Index — consisting of companies that stand out for the ethical, transparent and sustainable management of their activities — and achieved a ten-point improvement in its Corporate Sustainability Assessment for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, one of the world’s foremost sustainability assessments.
Lastly, following the indications set out in Borsa Italiana’s Corporate Governance Code, the Group increased its commitment to sustainable business development by improving its governance of sustainability and assigning responsibility for these issues to the Compensation and Nomination Committee.
The Sustainability Report is available at
www.prysmiangroup.com
