Within the Group, most employees have individual or collective performance-based variable compensation. The terms and conditions of this variable compensation differ from one Group company to another, based on historical agreements and the applicable regulations. At EDF SA, all employees may receive performance-related variable compensation. For managers, the variable share is based on both individual and collective targets whose weighting increases with the position within theCompany.
EDF and Enedis pay special attention to the professional training of their managers on issues of compensation. In France, EDF and Enedis employees benefit from a profit-sharing scheme, introduced more than 20 years ago in the case of EDF and for Enedis when it became a subsidiary. Most of the Group’s European subsidiaries have similar schemes. EDF and Enedis employees can choose either to receive payment and/or to invest it into either the Group Corporate Savings Plan or the Group Collective Retirement Saving Plan. In a restrictive economic environment, the policy of an employer contribution for sums invested has been maintained The EDF and Enedis profit-sharing agreements are three-yearly (except for 2020) and require the profit-sharing amount payable to be set based on the meeting of national objectives reflecting the different components of the companies’ performances (economic, business lines, social and environmental).
It is open to employees of EDF and of the Group’s French companies in which EDF owns directly or indirectly at least 40% of the share capital and which have signed up for the Group Corporate Savings Plan. At 31 December 2020, approximately 200,000 employees, retirees and former employees of the Group held a GroupSavings Plan (i.e. over 97% of the total population). Over 83,000 employees, retirees and former employees of the Group hold a Group Retirement Savings Plan (i.e. over 40% of the total population).
A full range of diversified mutual funds is available for subscription, including conservative funds mainly invested in bonds and money market investments, balanced funds and dynamic funds, mainly invested in shares, including shareholding funds invested in EDF shares. The EDF group’s corporate savings plan totalled €5.2 billion at the end of 2020. Profit-sharing, as well as individual payments and transfers from the Time Savings Accounts, are matched by the Company under conditions negotiated within each company.
The EDF group’s Collective Retirement Savings Plan is made up of two FCPE(Employee Mutual Investment Funds) profit-sharing funds with a total of eight investment vehicles: one solidarity fund and one set-maturity fund. The plan may be managed independently, in which case it may be invested in any sub-fund regardless of the retirement date, or by the fund manager, in which case the level of risk will be automatically reduced as the maturity date approaches (retirement, acquisition of their primary residence). Profit-sharing, as well as individual payments and transfers from the Time Savings Accounts, are matched by the Company under conditions negotiated within each company. The EDF group’s Collective Retirement Savings Plan totalled approximately €1 billion at the end of 2020.
At 31 December 2020, the employees held 1.36% of the share capital, divided between the shares held by the “EDF Actions” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds (FCPEs) of the Group Savings Plan and the shares held in registered form:
Nombre de salariés actionnaires | Nombre d’actions | % capital | % droits de vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Employee shareholdings | Employee shareholdings Nombre de salariés actionnaires
| Employee shareholdings Nombre d’actions 42,092,505 | Employee shareholdings % capital 1.36% | Employee shareholdings % droits de vote 1.41% |
| Group Savings Plan (“Actions EDF” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds) | Group Savings Plan (“Actions EDF” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds) Nombre de salariés actionnaires 94,088 | Group Savings Plan (“Actions EDF” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds) Nombre d’actions 38,075,245 | Group Savings Plan (“Actions EDF” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds) % capital 1.23% | Group Savings Plan (“Actions EDF” and “EDF ORS” employee shareholding funds) % droits de vote 1.26% |
| Of which EDF shares | Of which EDF shares Nombre de salariés actionnaires 94,088 | Of which EDF shares Nombre d’actions 38,075,245 | Of which EDF shares % capital 1.23% | Of which EDF shares % droits de vote 1.26% |
| Of which EDF ORS | Of which EDF ORS Nombre de salariés actionnaires 39,382 | Of which EDF ORS Nombre d’actions 7307,294 | Of which EDF ORS % capital 0.24% | Of which EDF ORS % droits de vote 0.13% |
| Shares held in registered form | Shares held in registered form Nombre de salariés actionnaires
| Shares held in registered form Nombre d’actions 4,017,260 | Shares held in registered form % capital 0.13% | Shares held in registered form % droits de vote 0.15% |
Partnerships are an important commitment for the Group, which evidence its mobilisation to promote the energy transition in the local areas. These partnerships are set up in line with EDF’s raison d’être and deployed in consultation with the stakeholders.
In terms of biodiversity, the Group relies on domestic partnerships built over time with major players in the sector (see section 3.3.2.1.5 “Enhancing governance of biodiversity issues and raising employee awareness”). Regarding climate and ecological and solidarity transition in the broad sense, the partnership forged with the Sustainable Development and International Relations Institute (Iddri) allows EDF to engage in discussions on issues, develop expertise and identify emerging issues.
Assisting vulnerable sections of the population in energy transition constitutes one of EDF’s partnership areas, especially with the social and solidarity economy and social entrepreneurship sector. EDF therefore entered into a partnership with ASHOKA France, one of the pioneers and major players in social entrepreneurship (described in chapter 3.3.4.3 “Social innovation”).
In terms of dialogue carried out in the regions of France, partnerships continue with the French coastal protection agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) and the NationalUnion of Permanent Centres of Environmental Initiatives (Union nationale des centres permanents d’initiative pour l’environnement) on the dimension “support to local communities” and with the National School of Landscape Architecture (ENSP).Recently, the research and action work of the ENSP on the Martigues Ponteau thermal power plant has led to a diagnosis after the deconstruction of the chimneys that enhances the landscape footprint of the site in the local area.
At the local level, many partnerships are set up by the divisions and subsidiaries with a view to establishing a close dialogue with local players.
The EDF group’s Research & Development (R&D) activities are handled on the one hand by the Research & Development Division – EDF R&D and on the other by certainGroup subsidiaries. These activities are complementary and in line with the Group’s CAP 2030 strategy. With the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and with electricity anticipated to be a major factor in the decarbonisation of the French economy, the role that R&D will play will be crucial to achieving this objective. Its areas of research focus on three main themes: the electrical transition; the climate transition; and the digital and societal transition.
In 2020, the EDF group’s total R&D budget was €685.2 million. It comprises EDF’sR&D budget of €518 million, as well as the research carried out by certain wholly-owned subsidiaries, mainly Framatome, EDF in the UK and Edison. In particular, expenditures covered research into energy efficiency, uses of electricity as a substitute for fossil fuels, renewable energies and their insertion into the grid, energy storage, carbon-free hydrogen and its applications for decarbonising the economy, sustainable cities, the local impacts of climate change and other environmental issues such as biodiversity, water quality, and the mitigation of disturbances (See section 1.5 “Research & development, patents and licences”).
