Integrated Sustainability Strategy

SUSTAINABILITY

Integrated Sustainability Strategy

Prysmian has integrated Environmental, Social and Governance goals into its business strategy by adopting policies, taking actions and setting targets designed to produce shared value for all stakeholders.

The page is an overview of Prysmian Group integrated strategy

OVERVIEW

Integrated strategy

During 2022 the world faced complex economic, social and political risks that were often interlinked, such as the war in Ukraine, the isolation of China, the slowdown in global growth and high rates of inflation, not to mention extreme climate events.

Challenges associated with energy and food supply, scarcity of raw materials and the strategic role of cyber security have prompted businesses to adopt increasingly flexible and resilient business models. In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, it is essential to understand the direction of changes and turn them into opportunities for growth.

Five global challenges

The Group has identified five global trends that Prysmian must address in the near future:

  1. Growth of renewables (Energy transition): >70% by 2050. Industrialised countries are turning to renewable energy in order to reduce CO2 emissions and tackle climate change. Estimates expect them to cover 70% of global electricity generation by 2050, which is more than double the current figure of 30%.
  2. Electrification: +25% electricity consumption by 2030. Population growth, the steady increase in electricity consumption and the proliferation of energy-intensive infrastructure for telecommunications, are just some of the drivers that will cause electricity consumption to rise by 25% by 2030.
  3. Cloudification: >300 TWh consumed by the world’s data centres, the same as the whole of Italy. The ongoing need for additional cloud capacity is causing exponential growth in the number of data centres, which are becoming ubiquitous. These centres need an enormous quantity of power cables to operate and of telecom cables for the transportation of data.
  4. Data booming: by 2030 two out of three homes (85%) will have broadband. This exponential increase in data consumption will be evident by 2030, due to the greater quality and quantity of the infrastructure that carries it.
  5. Smartisation and Servitisation: being growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) and a focus on “Solutions” rather than “Products”. The growth of technologies and the speed of data exchange is fostering new innovative solutions (such as autonomous driving) and a continuous reduction in costs (for example, the cost of bandwidth is 40 times lower than in 2010).

Each of these trends brings strong convergence and interdependence between energy and digitalisation. Just think of the data centres or 5G towers, where suppliers, distribution channels, customers and value chains all intersect.

Prysmian’s competitive advantages

Faced with these continual complex changes, Prysmian can count on a solid business model founded on the following strategic pillars:

  • Diversification: A broad product portfolio and diversified geographical coverage capable, respectively, of exploiting the convergence of Energy and Telecom and attenuating the cyclic nature of Prysmian’s activities in the various Regions and businesses.
  • Technological excellence Innovative products and solutions, as well as highly qualified human capital.
  • Decentralised supply chain: A decentralised supply chain capable of delivering customised solutions.
  • Aggregation hub: Ability to complete acquisitions and mergers, releasing major cost and revenue synergies.

Prepared for the future

Leveraging these solid competitive advantages, the Prysmian strategy is focused on the following growth opportunities:

  • The consolidation of leadership
    • Long-term, structural growth in core areas (e.g. interconnections, network reinforcement, FTTx).
  • Research and development for innovation
    • Development of skills and the product portfolio in sectors undergoing rapid expansion, such as Solar, Wind, EV Charging, Data Centres and 5G.
  • Solution provider
    • Turnkey services for the energy transition and digitalisation.

To seize these growth opportunities, Prysmian can count on an efficient and flexible supply chain, our proximity to customers, technological innovation, and the constant development of know-how and skills, with a view to sustainability. Spanning all these factors, we find financial strength and the ability of the Group to generate the resources needed to sustain investment in value-added businesses with a high technological content, as well as constant improvements in the sustainability of our production processes and products.

Prysmian’s contribution to the Twin Transition

Prysmian is an enabler of both the ecological transition and digitalisation at a global level, the so-called twin transition, which are central to the objectives of the European Green Deal.

This complex transition involves the industrial modernisation of production processes via the development of new solutions that help society as a whole to become more sustainable. To do this, technology and the intelligent use of data have a strategic, but still underdeveloped, role to play.

A transition strategy combines these critical functions to unlock huge efficiency and productivity gains, as indeed Prysmian’s supply chain demonstrates. The dual transition will have a positive impact by greening technology, data resources and infrastructure, while also accelerating sustainability throughout the organisation.

PRYSMIAN’S APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY: THE IMPACT CREATION MODEL

A model based on impacts and ambitions

The Group’s sustainability strategy is based on an “Impact Creation” model, enabling effectiveness to be analysed and areas for improvement to be identified in a timely and measurable manner.

The model comprises four macro-areas interconnected to one each other in a circular way.

  1. The first area, Prysmian’s value chain, describes the Group’s identity and activities;
  2. The second area identifies the actual and potential impacts, both positive and negative, generated by Prysmian throughout its entire value chain (see the “Materiality analysis 2022” section for more information);
  3. The third area involves measuring and monitoring constantly the KPIs that Prysmian has defined within its sustainable development strategy;
  4. The fourth area comprises the environmental and social ambitions identified by the Group as a tangible response to these impacts, via continuous innovation of products and processes.

The four areas, interconnected in a circular way, describe:

  1. IMPACTS: positive or negative, actual or potential, short/medium or long-term impacts generated by Prysmian throughout the entire value chain and suffered in connection with specific financial indicators;
  2. LONG-TERM AMBITIONS: defined by Prysmian as concrete responses to these impacts.

 

 

COMPANY

ESG indicators and remuneration policy

Prysmian Group’s fully integrated ESG approach has led it to adopt a management incentive scheme (link a pagina remuneration policy) linked to our ESG targets that applies to all managers. The Compensation and Appointments Committee is responsible for assessing the 2021 performance of the Group against these criteria, with reference to a series of parameters that highlight the progress made by the action plans implemented. The main parameters are based on performance achieving goals in occupational health and safety, the level of gender diversity among management and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Our positioning in the leading sustainability indices to which we belong is also important.

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The three priorities of the Group

With respect to the SDGs, Prysmian has defined three priorities for the Group:

  • Facilitate the deployment of accessible energy and innovation in telecommunications and infrastructur.
  • Pursue the responsible consumption of natural resources and sustainable supplies.
  • Contribute to the development of people and local communities.

Consult our SASB Report

SASB REPORT 2022

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Consult our 2022 Sustainabilty Report

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PRYSMIAN FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Adherence to the global compact network and the SDGs Prysmian has joined the United Nations Global Compact, a global network of more than 17,000 companies in 160 countries around the world, which was inaugurated in 1999 with the aim of building a sustainable global economy:

respectful of human and workers’ rights, environmental protection and the fight against corruption.

The Global Compact calls on member businesses and organisations, each in their own sphere of influence, to agree, support and apply a set of fundamental principles covering human rights, working standards, environmental protection and the fight against corruption.

In order to report its commitment in this area, Prysmian Group makes reference to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined in the UN 2030 Agenda. The SDGs and their targets identify the global priorities and define an integrated plan of action for people, planet, prosperity and peace.

To strengthen its commitment to sustainability, Prysmian has adopted a Sustainability Policy that defines the Group’s pledges and the priorities, governance, strategies and vision linked to Sustainability.

SDGS & the Sustainability Plan

The Prysmian Group takes concrete actions designed to achieve the sustainability objectives identified in the Sustainability Scorecard. In particular:

Increase the percentage of cables covered by the carbon footprint calculation: to this end, a platform has been implemented that can calculate the carbon footprint of various types of cable (Common Analysis).

Develop innovative solutions that contribute actively to the transition towards the use of renewable sources and the digitalisation of networks, such as cables for the production and distribution of solar and wind energy, undersea cables for interconnections between countries and optical fibre cables.

Increase the number of plants with environmental, health and safety management certification.

Investments and other initiatives designed to reduce GHG emissions.

Increase third-party audits in specific areas, such as governance, the environment and human resources.

Increase the percentage of women in executive positions via the adoption of specific “diversity and inclusion” programmes, such as the “Side-by-Side” project for the promotion of diversity within the business, and the mentoring of female talents, such as the WLP (Women Leadership Programme).

Sustainability Scorecard

Setting goals and monitoring progress is essential to creating a credible path towards sustainability. Our Sustainability Scorecard comprises 16 challenging targets linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to meet by 2022.

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SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability policy

Our Sustainability Policy is the roadmap for how we reach our ESG goals. It defines the Group’s commitment and lays out our priorities and guidelines, governance, strategy, and vision.

Download our policy