Additionally, in 2020, the EDF group produced a set of internal “responsible gas provider” criteria, to bring its gas operations into line with its climate commitments:
In 2020, the Group renewed its commitment through two voluntary schemes supported by the French government: “Entreprises engagées pour la biodiversité– act4nature France”, a corporate biodiversity scheme run by the Office français de la biodiversité (French Biodiversity Office) and “Act4nature International” run byEntreprises pour l’environnement (Epe).
The EDF group has set a new short-term key performance indicator for biodiversity, measuring the achievement by 2022 of the Group’s commitments under theAct4Nature International scheme. The methodology associated with this indicator is explained in section 3.7.2.2 “Further details on performance indicators”.
Additionally, in 2020, in St Alban, EDF joined forces with the Isère Conservatoire des espaces natures (Natural Site Conservation Body or CEN) to restore and manage the Malessard wetland (20 hectares). The 2020-2024 management plan produced by the CEN includes measures to increase inventories of wildlife (beavers, amphibians, dragonflies, etc.) and take the first steps in 2020, such as creating ponds to support amphibians and managing invasive alien species, and arrange an eco-grazing policy in the long term.
The Bugey plant and the Conservatoire des espaces naturels have also joined forces to protect an exceptional natural area. The main aim of the partnership is to protect steppe grasslands and endemic species, through the use of natural grazing for example. They also plan to arrange visits to this protected natural area to enhance the value of local biodiversity. The plant maintains, in liaison with the site’s green spaces manager, an area dedicated to eco-grazing by sheep and donkeys, located on the banks of the Rhône. This initiative is designed to reintroduce natural methods of maintaining green spaces to replace the use of mechanical, polluting tools and helps preserve the endangered Solognot sheep. The new herd introduced now maintains the plant life at the foot of the cooling towers. Apiaries, maintained by volunteer employees, and blue tit nests, used to tackle processionary caterpillars, have also been installed at the plant.
In terms of the circular economy and waste, entities and companies have implemented action plans to minimise the generation of waste, integrated in the management systems’ action programmes. The mission of the Circular Economy andWaste Group reporting to EDF’s EMS is to avoid the generation of waste by implementing prevention, optimisation and recycling initiatives. Many large-scale projects under the Grand Carénage programme recover a large amount of equipment and spare parts that can still be used. For this reason, EDF tested “EDF Reutiliz” in2020, a digital platform to help equipment to be reused, with a view to reducing the consumption of resources and limiting the production of new goods. It will be rolled out in 2021, building on the reuse operations already in place for the generation fleet.
Each Group entity promoted action plans aimed at on-going improvement of safety and health at work, at the request of the Executive Committee. Despite a steady improvement in the accident frequency rate, a new shutdown was organised in October 2020 for all working teams within the Group, involving employees and providers, in order to determine local initiatives to improve prevention levels in response to a stagnation in the number of fatal accidents. Group employees were encouraged to follow the e-learning courses on Shared Vigilance (18,459 EDF employees have completed this training module) and road hazards (completed by 37,224 employees).
In 2020, the Group Procurement Division strengthened the performance of its risk analysis methods in accordance with the law on the duty of care. New methodology takes into account all of the CSR topics (environment, working relations and conditions, human rights, ethics and compliance) and makes it possible to determine the level of residual risk and define the priority controls and actions to be taken with suppliers depending on their purchasing segment (see section 3.4.2.3.2 “Responsible procurement strategy and practices”).
Major residual risks have been identified in the various sectors of purchasing, mainly concerning safety, ethics, waste, the use of rare materials and human rights. 15% of the purchasing segments analysed are classified as having a major residual risk, 51% are classified as having a material residual risk and 34% are classified as having a low residual risk.
Supplier monitoring is mainly carried out by the Division or Contract Management, which uses Performance Assessment Sheets and Supplier Assessment Sheets. Almost 10,000 assessments are completed each year, on almost 2,000 suppliers. CSR assessments and audits are also carried out. On-site supplier audits are conducted by external, independent providers.
The Group Purchasing Department uses Afnor’s Acesia online assessment and dialogue platform to send these questionnaires. The questionnaires completed by the supplier are systematically (and independently) checked by the Afnor teams. This tool makes it possible for purchasers and suppliers to share an approach of continuous improvement in Corporate Social Responsibility. At the end of 2020, 2,200 suppliers were questioned using the Acesia platform, and nearly 900 have been controlled. The assessments were “satisfactory” for almost 40% of the audited questionnaires. The suppliers to be assessed or audited are mainly selected based on the new supplier risk mapping and information received from buyers and business lines, on the contracts in progress. Group entities that do not use the Acesia platform use their own specific assessment methods.
Suppliers of the Nuclear Division must agree to comply with the Progress Charter for Exemplary and Efficient Nuclear Power and the Social Specifications of the Strategy Committee for the Nuclear Sector.
Edison uses a self-assessment platform that focuses on the ten principles of the Global Compact and is shared with other companies.
EDF Renewables assesses its suppliers of strategic wind and solar energy equipment in its qualification processes, comprising selection criteria in all CSR fields. A Chinese turbine supplier that qualified for the very first time was only selected for its ISO 14001 certified plants.
All Group entities conduct assessment or follow-up audits in their supply chain. For example, the Dalkia teams conducted 2,225 health and safety audits on its subcontractors in 2020. EDF Hydro audited 62 of its suppliers: one of them obtained an insufficient CSR risk control rating for a subcontractor in China. As a result, it was asked to produce an action plan and the orders placed with it were monitored closely. Luminus noted a major discrepancy with a subcontractor of one of its main suppliers: after several alerts, the entity suspended its contract until the relevant company became compliant.
