Universal Registration Document 2020

3.1.3 EDF climate governance

3.1.3.1 Governance bodies

The EDF group’s climate strategy governance forms part of its sustainable development governance (see section 3.5.2.3.3 “The Sustainable Development Department”). This is supervised, in accordance with the independent management of the network’s infrastructure managers, at the top Group level.

Stronger governance in 2020

In December 2020, to bolster its climate governance, and in line with the highest TCFD standards, the EDF group appointed Climate point persons within its Executive Committee and its Board of Directors⁽¹⁾ :

• the Group Senior Executive Vice-President, in charge of Innovation,Corporate Social Responsibility & Strategy, Alexandre Perra, is Climate point person within the Group Executive Committee. In this capacity, he presents the Group’s carbon-neutrality ambition at the Board’s Corporate SocialResponsibility Committee and at the Board itself;
• the Chairwoman of the Corporate Responsibility Committee, Claire Pedini, is the Climate point person within the Board. In this capacity, she ensures, in liaison with the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the ExecutiveCommittee’s Climate point person, that the Board identifies all impacts of climate change for the Group and that the work undertaken by the Board as well as the latter's strategy include considerations pertaining to climate change.

Governance bodies

• The Board of Directors establishes the Group’s strategic, economic, financial, and technology orientations, taking climate issues into consideration. The Board ofDirectors regularly examines climate change risks and opportunities and includes the Group’s climate strategy in strategic decisions. In October 2019, a specific brief on climate risks was presented to the Board of Directors’ Audit Committee. In April 2020, the Group’s new carbon trajectory to achieve carbon neutrality was presented to the Board of Directors’ Corporate Responsibility Committee. InFebruary 2020, the Board of Directors decided to recommend adding the EDF’s raison d’être to its articles of association⁽²⁾ ;
• The Executive Committee implements the Group’s climate strategy, which was an integral part of the non-financial performance statement approved by theBoard and presented to shareholders. The Group Senior Executive Vice-President in charge of Innovation, Corporate Sicial Responsibility and Strategy is the Executive Committee’s Climate point person. Each year, the Executive Committee examines and validates the Group’s carbon-free trajectory. In January 2020, theExecutive Committee approved the Group’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (presented at the General Meeting in May 2020). In October 2020, it approved the Group’s new goals to reduce emissions by 2030, opening the way for SBTi certification of the Group’s carbon trajectory⁽³⁾ ;
• The Executive Committee’s Commitments Committee features the GroupSenior Executive Vice-Presidents and is a specialist EXCOM body. It examines the alignment of the Group’s strategic projects with its raison d’être and climate commitments in depth. The investment projects brought before the Group’s decision-making bodies that are likely to cause significant direct or indirect greenhouse gas emissions include a verification of their consistency with the Group’s carbon-free trajectory and with the energy transition dynamic in the countries in question. For the first time in 2020, 2030 carbon trajectories were set for all the Group’s entities, objectives were set for each entity and will be monitored as part of the process to manage the Group’s financial and strategic performance (see section 2.1.2.4 “Reliability of financial information – internal accounting and financial control/Organisation of financial risk management”);
• The Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Committee, which features the Group’s Senior Executive Vice-Presidents, examines all climate issues in depth and handles their strategic management and coordination. This Committee, created in 2019, is currently chaired by the Senior Executive Vice-President,Innovation, Corporate Responsibility & Strategy. In April 2020, the Committee examined the CAP 2030 carbon neutrality strategy plan;
• The Public Authorities Relations Management Committee coordinates actions to promote the Group’s positions in relation to French and European authorities. It is co-chaired by the Senior Executive Vice-President, Innovation,Corporate Responsibility & Strategy, and meets on a weekly basis. The SEVP,Executive Coordination & Governmental Relations, takes the role of Secretary;
• The Stakeholder Council, featuring external personalities representing the EDF group’s different issues, enables identification and examination of the expectations of civil society in terms of combating climate change (see section 3.5.1.2 “Stakeholder panels”);
• The Scientific Council is regularly called on to guide EDF’s climate strategy by presenting advances in scientific knowledge in the field (particularly from the IPCC, i.e. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and proposing strategic orientations for the EDF group’s R&D Division (see section 3.5.1.2 “Stakeholder panels”);
• The Group Risk Division ("DRG") ensures that all entities examine climate risks (physical and transition risks) in their risk mapping, which is updated annually. The DRG coordinates the updating of EDF group policies and, in collaboration with the DDD, ensures that each update includes a specific analysis to verify its consistency with the Group’s climate strategy;
• The Sustainable Development Department ("DDD") is responsible for operational monitoring of the EDF group’s climate change-related actions and indicators for implementation of the Group’s sustainable development policy. It works in liaison with the Corporate Divisions and subsidiaries concerned, backed by the Group’s Environmental Management System (EMS), Environment Board,Sustainable Development Committee (SDC), and Stakeholder Council.