Meeting Challenges Together in Open Dialog
Reducing carbon footprints, promoting renewable energy and pursuing technological innovations such as smart grids and e-mobility are just some of the challenges to which energy companies today have to respond. At the same time, they need to take account of the positions adopted by critical stakeholders. Large-scale technology projects in particular are meeting with increased resistance from different interest groups.
Stakeholder Dialog as a Core Element of CR Strategy
As members of society, we share relationships and mutual dependencies with a variety of stakeholders. Conflicting goals cannot always be avoided. But they are the ones that give E.ON license to build and operate. For this reason, a focus on stakeholder needs and the management of stakeholder dialog play a key role in our Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy.
Creating Transparency and Taking Stakeholder Interests Seriously
The goal of our stakeholder dialog is to get to know the needs, expectations and concerns of our main stakeholder groups, understand them, and incorporate them into our work processes. We strengthen existing contacts, initiate new dialog and encourage understanding for our stakeholders among our employees.
Stakeholder dialog is already well integrated in the business processes of many divisions. CR-related questions from outside are increasingly addressed directly to the relevant department, for example Sales or Investor Relations. The CR team remains in close contact with these departments to support them in their dialog and guide the process in keeping with our CR Strategy.
Reconciling Conflicting Stakeholder Needs
The diversity of our stakeholders is matched by the variety of their needs and the ways in which we approach them. The drop-down menu below provides an illustration of our most important stakeholder groups and their key issues:
Stakeholder Dialog as a Core Element of CR Strategy
As members of society, we share relationships and mutual dependencies with a variety of stakeholders. Conflicting goals cannot always be avoided. But they are the ones that give E.ON license to build and operate. For this reason, a focus on stakeholder needs and the management of stakeholder dialog play a key role in our Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy.
Creating Transparency and Taking Stakeholder Interests Seriously
The goal of our stakeholder dialog is to get to know the needs, expectations and concerns of our main stakeholder groups, understand them, and incorporate them into our work processes. We strengthen existing contacts, initiate new dialog and encourage understanding for our stakeholders among our employees.
Stakeholder dialog is already well integrated in the business processes of many divisions. CR-related questions from outside are increasingly addressed directly to the relevant department, for example Sales or Investor Relations. The CR team remains in close contact with these departments to support them in their dialog and guide the process in keeping with our CR Strategy.
Reconciling Conflicting Stakeholder Needs
The diversity of our stakeholders is matched by the variety of their needs and the ways in which we approach them. The drop-down menu below provides an illustration of our most important stakeholder groups and their key issues:
In addition to a safe workplace, good working conditions and fair pay, our employees want to be able to identify with our business activities and corporate values. At the same time, we expect our employees to demonstrate dedication and a sense of purpose. Dialog with our employees, for instance through our regular employee opinion survey, is an effective instrument for learning about their current needs.
Above all our customers expect clean, reliable and affordable energy. We regularly invite them to participate in discussions at events such as the Staudinger Power Forum. Another example of customer dialog is our cooperation with the consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble, with whom we are working to develop a supplier scorecard that rates suppliers according to sustainability criteria.
Investors expect sustainable returns. They demand timely, accurate information about the company so they can correctly assess its value and value potential. Here they are showing an increasing interest in sustainability issues. We deliver this information in our investor relations roadshows and incorporate the sustainability-related KPIs developed by the "DVFA - Society of Investment Professionals in Germany".
The government demands transparency and legal compliance from power companies. In our Group-wide Corporate Code of Conduct, we have pledged to comply with certain basic standards that often go beyond what is required by national laws. At the same time, we need a reliable basis for planning our investments. Within the framework of responsible lobbying, we seek dialog with political decision-makers, for example through our "E.ON in Dialog" Initiative, which is also aimed at interested members of the public.
When it comes to the environmental compatibility and social responsibility of corporations, NGOs have a variety of expectations. We maintain close contact with NGOs such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with whom we are analyzing the environmental impact of offshore wind parks. At the same time we remain aware of the potential challenges involved in this type of cooperation and address them in forums such as the "High Voltage Partnerships?" discussion organized by Leuchtpol in 2010.
Both the residents in the vicinity of our power plants and society at large have an interest in E.ON acting responsibly, respecting the law, creating jobs and getting involved in the good of the region. As part of our community involvement, we live up to these expectations and take an active role where our help is needed and where our expertise can make a difference. Examples include our involvement in disaster relief efforts as well as our assistance for vulnerable customers.
E.ON is also an active partner and member in numerous national and international initiatives. For example, we have joined with 28 leading globally active corporations to form the "Econsense - Forum for Sustainable Development of German Business". This network is dedicated to cross-sector dialog on sustainable development issues.
Local Dialog
Our CR team has made itself available for dialog online and looks forward to hearing your opinion. On the following pages, you can learn more about how our regional units interact with local stakeholders. E.ON UK uses social media to conduct web-based stakeholder dialog. We are also working with the initiative "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Natur- und Umweltbildung e.V." (ANU) (Initiative for Nature and Environmental Education) to meet regional and project-related challenges.
