Case study: How Alperia creates economic value for its stakeholders
Alperia is South Tyrol’s leading energy service provider, the fifth-largest multi-utility in Italy in terms of turnover and one of Italy’s most important sustainable-energy companies. Alperia aims to generate significant added value for its various stakeholder groups every year Tweet This!, in order to boost local economic development.
This case study is based on the 2020 Sustainability Report by Alperia, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
In 2020, Alperia created €257 million of added value for South Tyrol, through payments to public bodies, staff salaries and benefits, contracts for local companies, sponsorships, donations and dividends to local shareholders. In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Alperia took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for providers of capital
- create economic value for the government
- create economic value for communities
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Alperia has identified;
- How Alperia proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Alperia to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2020 Sustainability Report Alperia identified a range of material issues, such as employee development, security of supply, asset integrity, innovation, research and development. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Alperia.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Alperia engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Customers |
| Employees |
| Suppliers |
| Owners and Investors |
| Interest groups |
| Citizens |
| Schools |
| Research institutes |
| Community |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Alperia conducted an anonymous online survey among its stakeholders to which 176 people responded.
What actions were taken by Alperia to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2020 Sustainability Report Alperia reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2020, Alperia paid EUR 77,068,468 for employee wages and benefits (2019: 73,093,184).
- Creating economic value for providers of capital
- In 2020, Alperia paid EUR 9,514,673 to providers of capital.
- Creating economic value for the government
- In 2020, Alperia paid EUR 90,180,251 to the government, including taxes (IRES, IRAP, IMU, etc.) and other payments (such as water, state and riparian royalties; free energy; environmental funds, etc.).
- Creating economic value for communities
- In 2020, Alperia spent EUR 2,655,837 in community investments, including sponsoring costs and donations.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by Alperia, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://sustainability.alperia.eu/sites/alperiacsr20/files/pictures/sustainability_report_2020.pdf
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