Sustainability for A2A: annual reports and stakeholder engagement

Our vision of the world is transparent, participatory and aimed at future generations. These are not words, but concrete projects included in a 2030 investment plan, 90% aligned with the SDGs of the UN Agenda 2030. At A2A, we have taken this task seriously and aim to achieve it consistently, setting ourselves concrete, measurable and verifiable goals, partly through the involvement of our stakeholders. Allowing everyone to know and evaluate the results obtained and the effects generated by our local activities is the first step towards delivering value to each social context.

For this reason, we felt the need to return the value of our commitment to sustainable development to the communities in which we operate by means of the methodological rigour of an annual Sustainability Report. From 2015 to 2021, every year we reported on our work in six long-standing areas for the Group: the provinces of Milan, Bergamo and Brescia, as well as Piedmont, Valtellina and Valchiavenna, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. This year, as part of our journey to consolidate our strong ties with the areas in which we operate, and in keeping with our decision to pursue sustainability goals as a competitive factor and a deeply rooted ethical value, there are now no fewer than nine local sustainability reports: they cover the whole country and embrace areas where the history of our operations is certainly more recent but no less important, such as Sicily, Calabria and Apulia. This widespread programme of studying and engaging with local contexts is one of the most important manifestations of our commitment to pursuing dialogue with stakeholders, based on verified, concrete data and information. The work we do in this area is a distinctive part of our identity: we are still the first and only company in Italy to publish local sustainability reports and discuss them at this level.

Since 2020, three key words have guided our local reporting: Planet, People, and Prosperity. These are the areas identified by the World Economic Forum in the document “Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation”. Inspired by this methodology, which aims to increase alignment and comparability between the most widely recognised standards and metrics, we can consistently and verifiably report on value creation in the areas in which we operate. In the “Planet” section, we communicate our impact on the land and our relationship with natural capital, providing precise data on avoided emissions and information on how we respect biodiversity and protected areas.

In “People” we discuss the importance of the human factor for a Life Company, providing data on our concrete commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as the priority we give to our people’s health and safety. In this same chapter, we also emphasise the focus, selection and growth of our talents.

Finally, in the “Prosperity” section, we measure the effectiveness of our actions to ensure economic, social and technological progress in our communities by monitoring activities that contribute to the development of sustainable cities and contexts.

We dedicate a great deal of enthusiasm and commitment to the presentation of each of our local reports: each meeting represents for us an opportunity for meeting and dialogue with the local community and, at the same time, the culmination and beginning of innovative approaches. Publication of reports is accompanied by local stakeholder engagement tools and open discussion with institutions and communities. It becomes an invaluable opportunity for us to work on alliances and new projects geared towards ecological transition.

This project has evolved over the years, partly thanks to the support of several focal points spread throughout the organisation aimed at strengthening sustainability issue monitoring in the Group’s Business and Staff Departments. Indeed, we firmly believe that for these focal points to be effectively integrated into the company’s activities and strategies, all lines of business must be involved and conscious of the importance of their contribution. We can thereby incorporate sustainability into business processes, enhancing new projects, promoting communication and information exchange, and comprehensively gathering the needs and expectations of the stakeholders with whom we interface. This networked, two-way system of process transformation and target enhancement makes us a leader on the road to ecological transition: a road on which we actively involve all our people.

The goal of a truly sustainable world, however, requires a collective commitment that requires us to never lose sight of the great horizons beyond our business. While it is now imperative to involve stakeholders in the creation of shared value, bringing about a more environmentally and socially sustainable economy – and thus implementing a truly ecological transition – has become an essential priority. Companies and institutions cannot accomplish this task alone. The participatory contribution of communities and individuals remains crucial in order to achieve a concrete shift towards more sustainable production and consumption styles. This common goal can only be achieved with everyone’s participation: dialogue is not always easy, but must be encouraged by involving every responsible actor in society. Often, in fact, there are complex relationships and a high level of tension, mistrust and ‘disperception’ on sensitive topics.

Faced with this complexity, it becomes essential to activate all channels of dialogue and information with the local areas. We need to focus on their specific features and identify the most appropriate enabling levers to promote change, in the knowledge that only ethical and inclusive collaboration can lead us to truly support the ecological transition.