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Prysmian Group accelerates its commitment to sustainability through a Social and Climate Change Ambition plan

Sustainability Day 2021

Prysmian Group accelerates its commitment to sustainability through a Social and Climate Change Ambition plan

Net Zero target brought forward to 2035 (Scope 1 and 2)

Investments up to €100MN planned for the next decade to reduce emissions

Prysmian Group accelerates its commitment to sustainability through a Social and Climate Change Ambition plan. The announcement has been made during Prysmian Group’s Sustainability Day, the digital stakeholders engagement event with Group top management sharing Prysmian’s vision, priorities and plans for a sustainability roadmap.

Prysmian’s Climate Change Ambition aims at reducing its Scope 1 and 2 GHGs by 46% in absolute terms compared to 2019 by 2030 through investment of about €100 million over the next ten years. The Group’s Net Zero target (approved by the SBTi) has been brought forward to 2035 (Scope 1 and 2). The aim is to position the Group as one of the main technological players in the transition to low-carbon energy. The Group's Social Ambition is primarily focused on a commitment to improving diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I), particularly focusing on the career of women with STEM background, the equal pay gap, community empowerment, employee engagement and upskilling. The new targets for 2030 drive the achievement of Prysmian's Social Ambition goals and further align the Group with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“As a Public Company, we believe that sustainability is part of our DNA. Just as we want to contribute directly to the energy transition, we intend to actively promote the transition towards a more fair, diverse, inclusive and rich working environment, in addition to have a positive impact on the communities and society in which we operate,” stated Valerio Battista, Prysmian Group CEO.

Valerio Battista

Prysmian Group CEO

In order to face the major technological and industrial challenges ahead and grasp the opportunities offered by the energy transition and digitalisation, the Group has planned investments (CAPEX) up to €350 million on average a year from 2021 to 2025, also aimed at building a new submarine cable plant in the USA. Technology innovation, supported by R&D spending of over €100 million a year, is a distinctive strength of Prysmian, as it is committed to developing environmentally sustainable cable systems with greater transmission capacity, able to cover record distances and sea depths.

“Fostering the development and training of all people within our Group is an integral part of our Company's values and long-term sustainability strategy,” stated Maria Cristina Bifulco, Prysmian Group CSO and IR. “Thanks to its proactive approach, the Group is evolving into an organisation that recognises Diversity & Inclusion and gender parity at all levels, in addition to a commitment to fostering the empowerment of a greater number of women so that they can develop their careers in technical and scientific positions at Prysmian Group,” concluded Maria Cristina Bifulco.

Maria Cristina Bifulco

Prysmian Group CSO and IR

IPCC Vice Chair Carlo Carraro opened programme by discussing the recent IPCC report confirming that human behavior is the main cause of climate change. Prysmian Group COO Massimo Battaini talked about how companies are upscaling their power grids to support the emergence of wind power as the “silver bullet” of the energy transition. Chief HR Officer Fabrizio Rutschmann stressed that Social Ambition 2030 goals are every bit as crucial to becoming a sustainable company as climate change goals. Terna CEO Stefano Donnarumma and Prysmian Group CEO Valerio Battista talked about infrastructure’s vital role in ensuring that renewable power is available where needed. Communications networks also must become greener, said Philippe Vanhille, EVP Telecom Division, and Prysmian is innovating its optical fibers offering to make these cables smaller, more robust, and easier to install. Sustainability is a core responsibility of the board and plays a key role in the board agenda, said Maria Letizia Mariani, Lead Independent Board Director and Chair of the Sustainability Committee. Investors sounded off with their views on how they look at and measure ESG factors. Craig Cameron, portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton said he looks both at how companies are tackling the issues, as well as how they can benefit from the transition. Anne-Claire Imperiale, co-head of ESG research at Sycomore Asset Management, tries to understand how companies integrate human capital aspects into strategy.

Local top managers shared their experience with implementing ESG strategy worldwide. Saskia Veerkamp, Prysmian Group North American CFO, noted that the Biden agenda is giving a big boost to climate change projects and the group has an opportunity to play a leading role. Prysmian Group South America CEO Juan Mogollon pointed out that Prysmian can make a difference in terms of being an enabler for local communities to align with sustainability goals. Prysmian Group Turkey CEO Ulku Ozcan talked about equality in the workplace being a big challenge in her territory.

Prysmian Group’s business model calls for listening to and actively involving internal and external stakeholders. To gain more feedback, the Sustainability Day event has been followed by three thematic workshops — on Social Impact, Decarbonisation & Climate Change, and Innovation to Enable Transition —, each with a presentation by a senior executive and Board members on a sustainability topic, with a dedicated Q&A discussion with participants moderated by PwC. At the workshops attendees had the opportunity to engage with executives to gather key insights on Social Impact, Decarbonization and Climate Change and Innovation for enabling the energy transition.