In terms of employee compensation, the 2020 profit-sharing agreement signed by EDF’s management and its social partners includes, in addition to business and health& safety criteria, one climate-based criterion. The 2020 profit-sharing reference value was maintained at the same level as in the previous agreement, i.e. €2,150 for the average salary with 100% of criteria met. The climate-based criterion features a goal of 60% of EDF SA employees having achieved at least the “environmentally-aware” level of the “carbon neutrality passport” that they were advised to apply for by the end of 2020 (see section 3.1.3.5.2 “Innovation and collective intelligence”). Further negotiations will begin in 2021 to draw up the 2021-2023 three-yearly profit-sharing agreement.
In terms of compensation of corporate officers, a new climate-based criterion was added in 2020 to the calculation of bonuses paid to EDF SA corporate officers. The climate-based criterion taken into account is the carbon intensity(1) of the Group’s electricity and heat production. This covers the direct CO2 emissions of production plants in relation to the number of kWh of electricity or heat produce. Carbon intensity was 82gCO2 /kWh in 2017 and the target was set at 35gCO2 /kWh in 2030. In 2020, carbon intensity was 51gCO2 /kWh, i.e. 66% goal achievement, in line with the trajectory. This new criterion can account for up to 10% of bonuses paid to EDF SA corporate officers. This criterion accordingly backs up the CSR criterion on occupational health and safety, based on the global LTIR (employees and providers),and which can account for up to 5% of bonuses paid to Group executive officers(2).
EDF deploys its own initiatives to develop collective intelligence. Several of them are directly focused on combating global warming.
The “Combating CO2, it starts with us!” programme, which encourages all Group employees in France to better manage their energy use and reduce their personal carbon footprint, was backed up with a “carbon neutrality passport” to test their knowledge on climate change and man-made emissions, assess their carbon footprint, and take action based on challenges in the fields of energy use, housing, power supply, and digital technology. The award of this passport is one of the criteria of the profit-sharing agreement signed for 2020 (see section 3.1.3.5.1“Compensation linked to combating climate change”).
In addition to business-specific training and awareness campaigns on environmental issues, the EDF group committed to training its 165,000 employees by the end of 2022 on climate issues through the “Climate Collage”, a collective intelligence-based tool that makes it easy to understand the key conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report(3) and particularly causal links to climate change. The deployment of this operation is supervised by the Group Executive Committee’s Climate point person. To date, more than 330 sessions have been held, attended by more than 3,200 employees from 20 divisions worldwide. To deploy the “Climate Collage” group-wide, 170 employees signed up to act as instructors.
Through the France-wide EDF group agreement on sustainable mobility unanimously signed in November 2019, a commitment was made to develop an “Employer sustainable mobility plan” for sites with more than 100 employees, i.e.136 sites to date. Accordingly, it was recommended that the entities in question involve employees in producing and implementing these employer mobility plans through a preliminary survey, collaborative workshops to work on appropriate actions and organisations and team workshops to adopt the mobility plan drawn up for the site. Furthermore, employees are offered solutions to develop their sustainable mobility: flat sustainable mobility rate for car-sharers, negotiated discounts to purchase electric vehicles and charging stations, bikes or cycling equipment, e-learning to provide employees with bicycle safety training.
The development of uses of electricity is a key tool to achieve a carbon-free economy, provided that the electricity is mainly carbon-free. EDF contributes to this goal through solutions tailored to different markets (residential customers, businesses, and local authorities) and also develops different innovative cross-disciplinary solutions.The digital revolution opens up new prospects in this area, offering customers the possibility of being more actively involved in their use and indeed the production of energy, controlling their energy use, and limiting their CO2 emissions. The increasing use of electricity fosters the development of new, more effective solutions, most notably smart meters allowing more accurate and detailed analysis of use. This movement should be ramped up to keep pace with technological and regulatory changes, such as the future “RE2020” environmental regulation covering theenviron mental performance of new buildings from summer 2021, with the aim of reducing the carbon impact of buildings and continuing to improve their energy performance.
The EDF group supplies energy to over 30 million residential customers, most of them in France, the UK, Belgium, and Italy. EDF develops innovative digital solutions for these customers, helping them manage their energy use and supporting them in their energy savings projects.
In France(4), EDF provides everyday energy use monitoring tools, through internet or smartphone “Mes Écos & Moi” (i.e. My energy uses and me). These solutions enable customers equipped with a Linky(5) smart meter and who have given their consent, to monitor their energy use in kWh and €, identify the main items of electrical and/or gas expenditure, compare their energy use to similar households and obtain custom advice to make energy savings. For example, customers can set an annual energy use target, associated with e-mail or SMS alerts in case of deviations. Customers who check this energy use tracking tool more than two or three times a month achieve savings of up to 12% on their bills.
They can also access a dedicated newsfeed “Fil d’actu” in the “EDF&Moi” (i.e. EDF &Me) app, where they can access daily information to understand their energy use and make savings (weather impact, similar households, proportion of heating, appropriate environmentally-friendly actions, etc.).
In the same spirit, in Italy, Edison continued developing its “Edison World” platform to make it more easily accessible. The Energy Control service is available online on Edison’s website, and helps customers understand their energy use pattern better and advises them on reducing related costs, based on actual data for a sober and appropriate use.
Sowee, a subsidiary of EDF in France, markets its connected station, compatible with gas-fired boilers and individual electric heating, which allows better control over their energy budget and comfort. Customers who use the station can achieve energy savings of up to 25% without changing their installation(6).
(1) See section 3.1.1.1.2 “2030 goals recognised by the SBTi”.
(2) Including EDF SA, Edison, EDF in the UK and Luminus.
(3) This tool developed in 2015 by Cédric Ringenbach has already been used to train more than 100,000 employees worldwide.
(4) The e.quilibre solution was deployed in the French islands in 2018.
(5) Led by Enedis.
(6) EDF R&D internal study: savings estimated on the basis of dynamic heat models, using a home permanently heated to 20° C, not fitted with a central heating timer or open window detector, and without real-time energy use tracking, as a baseline. Depending on where the home is located and lifestyle habits, the connected station can help achieve energy savings of up to 25% for residential electric heating and up to 20% for residential gas heating.
