EDP's Stakeholders are those entities or individuals that influence or are influenced by our activities, products and services.
Our Stakeholders are organised, into four categories, according to their characteristics and interests.
The Value Chain segment tends to value as critical issues such as: energy tariffs and prices, the composition of electric bills, climate change (namely the promotion of energy efficiency in consumption) and innovation (smart grids). Some examples of stakeholders include: employees, unions, suppliers, scientific community, customers, consumer associations and business associations.
The market segment considers as critical issues such as financial sustainability (including debt, macroeconomic context and the EDP group’s strategy) and regulations, fees and subsidies (regulatory context). Stakeholders such as competition, financial entities, Shareholders and investors are included in this category.
The Democracy segment identifies as the most relevant issues climate change (promoting energy efficiency in consumption, investment in renewable energies and energy tariffs and prices (tariff deficit). Government, public bodies, regulation, parliament, political parties, international institutions are some of the Stakeholders in this category.
The Territorial and Social Organization segment gives particular emphasis to issues such as public lighting, climate change (promoting energy efficiency in consumption and investment in renewable energies) and rates and energy prices (price of electricity and tariff deficit). In these categories, Stakeholders like NGOs, local communities, local authorities, media and opinion formers are included.
Stakeholder relationship policy
Building a relationship of trust with our stakeholders is indispensable for us. That is why we have four guiding commitments to help us strengthen this relationship.
Strategic Vision
The management of Stakeholders is a demanding exercise in sharing and transparency for companies in their relationship with society and, in particular, with the entities that affect or are affected by its operations.
To listen, understand and work with our Stakeholders through a dynamic process that creates shared value allows us to anticipate challenges, minimize business risks and create new relationship opportunities.
The involvement of Stakeholders in governance models is therefore more than an example of good business practice: it is a competitive lever with a positive impact on the EDP group’s performance.
Mission and Objectives
To contribute to the effective and genuine involvement of the EDP group Stakeholders in all countries, surpassing simple compliance with the formal requirements of the law, is the mission of the Stakeholders Management of EDP group, whose goals are:
- To dynamically and systematically identify the Stakeholders that influence and are influenced by the activities of EDP group;
- To be familiar with the perceptions EDP group Stakeholders have of the company and what issues they consider relevant in to interaction with the organization;
- To strengthen the relationship of trust, transparency and proximity to all EDP Stakeholders;
- To integrate Stakeholders’ expectations with the management of the EDP group;
- To identify emerging risks and opportunities in the relationship with the Stakeholders;
- To identify, explore and develop new opportunities to create value either through dialogue with the various areas and business units of the EDP group, or through the promotion of many-leveled projects with the Stakeholders;
- To turn the Stakeholder management into a tangible exercise with a positive impact in the company.
EDP Stakeholder engagement procedures
These procedures establish minimum requirements to connect with external Stakeholders on all business units fully owned by EDP group.
Stakeholder and Institutional Relations Department
To promote a culture of transparency, strengthen the relationship with local stakeholders, promote their effective and active engagement and minimize impacts in local communities, the Group created a Local Stakeholders Engagement Policy, seeking the appropriate interaction between EDP and these entities, and to create a tangible shared value.
The importance of local Stakeholders engagement means that they are highly considered in the decision-making process in projects promoted by EDP, following the existing segmentation and the EDP Group Stakeholders Relationship Policy.
All teams representing EDP, whether employees or suppliers must acknowledge that their behaviour has to be aligned with the ESG commitments the Group has taken.
Strategic guidelines contained in this Policy will make it possible to interact, engage and collaborate with local Stakeholders, ensuring that EDP’s internal channels reinforce communication and gather all information needed for a more appropriate evolution of the local engagement practices.
Periodic monitoring will be carried out, ensuring risk prevention and greater learning, from a global perspective under Community Rights respect.
Local Stakeholder engagement is key to EDP’s success and plays a crucial role in implementing the Group’s policies, as well as ensuring a social license to operate, being a valuable tool throughout their lifecycle (concept, planning and licensing construction, operation and decommissioning, and asset rotation). EDP's main goal in the local engagement of its Stakeholders is to ensure the full Human Rights and Environmental legislation respect, under the terms set out in the EDP Group's current internal regulations.
Our objectives are to build and strengthen relationships of trust, to share knowledge and relevant information, to anticipate challenges and to identify new opportunities for cooperation with our Stakeholders.
General Principles
When creating a Stakeholder Relations Policy, we are also adopting a value creation approach for the various Stakeholders of the geographical areas in which we operate.
We seek to achieve this through four major Guiding Commitments: understand, communicate, trust and collaborate. These commitments embody a policy that seeks to go beyond mere compliance with the formal requirements of the law in order to contribute to effective and genuine involvement of the group's different Stakeholders. In order to support the implementation of this relationship policy, the Department of Institutional and Stakeholder Relations was established in April 2012, to act jointly and in coordination with the various business units in Portugal and in the other geographical areas, and with the various corporate centre departments, to enhance the effectiveness of the strategic relationship with the company's Stakeholders.
We dynamically and routinely identify the Stakeholders that influence and are influenced by the company and analyse and seek to understand their expectations and interests in the decisions that affect them directly.
We are committed to promoting two-way dialogue with Stakeholders, through information and consultation.
We listen, inform and respond to Stakeholders in a consistent, clear, rigorous and transparent manner in order to build close, strong and durable relationships.
We believe that the promotion of a climate of trust with our Stakeholders is crucial for establishing stable long-term relationships.
Our relationship with Stakeholders is based on values such as transparency, integrity and mutual respect.
It is our ambition to collaborate with Stakeholders in building strategic partnerships that bring together and share knowledge, skills and tools, to promote the creation of shared value leading to competitive advantage.
Stakeholder categorization model
We have divided our Stakeholders in four categories, according to their characteristics, in order to respond to their needs in the best possible way.
This policy was approved by the Executive Board of Directors (EBD) on November 14th of 2013.
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