Universal Registration Document 2022

The risks specific to the Duty of Vigilance are detailed by area in section  3.9.6 “Salient risks and risk prevention and mitigation measures”:

• salient risks related to human rights and fundamental freedoms: see section 3.9.6.1.1.
• salient risks relating to the environment: see section 3.9.6.2.1.
• salient risks relating to personal health and safety: see section 3.9.6.3.1.
• salient risks relating to suppliers and sub-contractors: see section 3.9.6.4.1.

3.9.5 Major improvements of the EDF group’s vigilance plan in 2022

In 2022, several projects and actions were initiated as part of a continuous improvement process of the Group vigilance plan:

Adaptation and roll-out of human rights commitments included in Duty of Vigilance standards

In March  2021, EDF drew up a set of guidelines listing the commitments of the Group (EDF and its controlled subsidiaries) and the fundamental requirements for its business relationships in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms, environmental protection, protection of personal health and safety and business ethics. The Group has summarised its Duty of Vigilance commitments in these standards, and spells out its requirements for its partners, financiers, suppliers, and subcontractors. This document, submitted to the members of the CDRS ⁽¹⁾ (see section 3.9.2 “Governance, steering and stakeholder involvement”), was signed by the Chairman of the EDF group. It is available in French and English on edf.fr website (www.edf.fr/sites/groupe/files/2023-02/ edfgroup_rse_referentiel-ddv-2021_en.pdf).

In 2022, EDF began adapting each of human rights commitments featured in its standards with the aim of explaining, contextualising, and rolling them out. Each commitment has its own human rights guide highlighting the international frames of reference and related definitions, and the main risk factors, main risk management actions and, if necessary, available tools. By the end of 2022, the guides focusing on discrimination, harassment, and use of security forces had been finalised.

More in-depth analysis of country risks

The Group has developed an in-house country profiling tool to assess a country’s context in terms of risks related to the duty of vigilance. It gathers the values of eight indicators (such as the Gender Gap Index or the Children’s Rights in the Workplace Index) for more than 180 countries covering the three Duty of Vigilance themes (Human Rights, Environment, Health and Safety) as well as the country’s socio-economic situation.

To complete this tool, in 2021 the Group has subscribed to Verisk Maplecroft® to have access to the human rights indices in order to refine and specify the human rights risks that the Group could face in the countries where it operates, purchases and develops. This subscription was renewed and extended to a wider range of indices to enable the Group’s different entities to carry out more in-depth analyses.

Reinforced integration of the duty of vigilance in the purchasing process of the Group Purchasing Department

The Group Purchasing Department has carried out a review to assess the integration of the duty of vigilance in its contracting phases. In 2021, the compliance commitment for bidders (which is mandatory to participate in the tender), covering the themes of corruption, money laundering, financing of terrorism, conflicts of interest and international sanctions, was finalised. Bidders now commit to comply with EDF’s requirements relating to the French Duty of Vigilance Act (see section  3.4.2.3.2.4 “Sustainable Procurement process”). In 2022, the CSR charter between EDF and its suppliers, which is a contract document, was updated to include compliance with obligations relating to the duty of vigilance, as well as details of CSR commitments (human rights, the environment, and health & safety) that the Group requires its suppliers and sub-contractors to both comply with themselves and make their own suppliers comply with. The rest of this review will take place in 2023 and will contribute to improving the integration of the duty of vigilance at all levels of the contracting process.

Addition of the duty of vigilance to the methodological guide on ethics and compliance investigations to be conducted in connection with EDF external growth transactions

The EDF group is regularly required to carry out transactions to subscribe for or acquire securities in French or foreign entities as part of partnerships, major projects, or external growth or investment transactions. In 2023, EDF finalised a methodological guide providing a practical list and presentation of the different due diligence measures required in terms of ethics and compliance. These due diligence measures are based on the Ethics & Compliances Policy, which lists the Group’s compliance programmes, particularly the corruption and influence peddling prevention programme, compliance with international sanctions, preventing the risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism, preventing breaches of competition law, export control, and the duty of vigilance. This guide sets out a series of due diligence measures to take or actions to implement chronologically and gradually at every phase of an acquisition project/partnership/project based on the level of risk identified at each stage of the project.

Group-wide awareness campaigns and roll-out of the vigilance plan

The network of Duty of Vigilance Managers, appointed at relevant Group entities, has been strengthened. At their entities, these Managers take on duties relating to CSR, Ethics & Compliance, or Internal Control. Five network management sessions were held in 2022, particularly focusing on the following subjects:

• issuing a duty of vigilance roll-out kit for staff newly appointed to these duties at their entities;
• sharing the setup of vigilance measures at certain Group subsidiaries;
• a half-day focusing on human rights, including a talk by an expert and practical case studies in smaller groups;
• regulatory monitoring: the proposed directive on the corporate duty of vigilance in terms of sustainability, the draft European regulation prohibiting products made using forced labour, plus changes to the EDF group whistleblowing system relating to the transposition into French law of the European directive on legal protection of whistleblowers.