Case study: How ENEC promotes sustainability across its supply chain
ENEC (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation) was established by decree in December 2009 by the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to implement a peaceful nuclear energy programme in the UAE and address the country’s growing demand for electricity, also reducing its carbon footprint and diversifying its energy portfolio. To safeguard from potential risk and satisfy internal Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability (HSES) requirements, ENEC takes an active role in ensuring that its supply chain meets high ethical standards Tweet This! and that relevant suppliers implement the environmental, social, and labour-related policies and procedures required to operate responsibly.
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by ENEC published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database 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
ENEC has a comprehensive PSC (Procurement and Supply Chain) Governance Framework, which helps to make sure that its procurement practices align with the highest ethical and governance standards. In order to promote sustainability across its supply chain ENEC took action to:
- implement a prequalification process
- apply a Supplier Code of Conduct
- promote worker welfare
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) ENEC has identified;
- How ENEC proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by ENEC to promote sustainability across its supply chain
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report ENEC identified a range of material issues, such as health and safety of employees, contractors, and community, environment management & compliance, emergency preparedness, operational efficiency, security of fuel supply. Among these, promoting sustainability across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for ENEC.
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 ENEC engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics ENEC engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Government Entities
| · Site delegations, facility tours and inspections · Regular meetings and written correspondence · Programme Executive Update · Participation in governmental initiatives and campaigns |
| Nuclear-Specific Organisations
| · Regular meetings and workshops · Regular reports and programme updates · Delegations to site · Shared initiatives · Knowledge-sharing workshops · Interactive dialogue · Reporting · International Advisory Board · Associated events, seminars, conferences and regional events |
| Media
| · Arranging interviews · Site visits · Media training |
| International Organisations, Government and Financial Institutions | · Delegations and events · Responding to on-going requests for information
|
| Academic Agents
| · Energy Pioneers Programmes · Regular events and career fairs at schools and universities |
| Prime Contractor Programme Related Companies
| · Regular meetings and workshops · Regular reports and programme updates · Knowledge-sharing · Interactive dialogue · Reporting · Associated events, seminars, conferences and events |
| Social Actors
| · Awareness sessions · Internal engagement programmes · CSR activities |
| Administration, Infrastructure & Utility Organisations
| · Meetings · Benchmarking · Non-Objection Certificate · Regular meetings and workshops · Regular reports and programme updates |
What actions were taken by ENEC to promote sustainability across its supply chain?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report ENEC reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability across its supply chain:
- Implementing a prequalification process
- ENEC’s selected suppliers go through its prequalification process, which helps to identify levels of compliance with necessary standards and regulations. It evaluates factors such as experience, financial ability, managerial ability, reputation, work history, environmental protection, labour practices and human rights protection, etc. to ultimately develop a list of qualified bidders for tenders. ENEC conducts risk-driven prequalification exercises to make sure that potential suppliers meet the specified standards for quality and safety. In addition, prequalification exercises gather business continuity information from the supplier to help gauge the maturity of the supplier’s business continuity planning capability. At the award stage, ENEC’s contracts include specific provisions on environmental protection, labour practices and human rights issues. HSES criteria are also screened at the prequalification stage for selected suppliers and, for products and services being procured that are classified as significant HSES risks, bidders will be assessed against a range of project specific HSES requirements. Should a bidder fail to achieve the necessary HSES score, they will automatically fail and be removed from the selection pool. All contracts require HSES considerations to be incorporated, depending on the level of risk.
- Applying a Supplier Code of Conduct
- All ENEC suppliers registered through its supplier portal must agree to its ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’, which sets out the principles and standards of conduct expected of every supplier. The document covers topics such as HSES, fraud, ethical behaviour, conflicts of interest, whistleblowing, compliance with the UAE law and ENEC’s environmental and sustainability leadership.
- Promoting worker welfare
- Compliance with all labour laws and worker welfare good practices is a prerequisite for being registered as a supplier or being awarded a contract with ENEC. To verify this, ENEC requests suppliers to sign a statement of compliance regarding worker welfare. In 2019, 100% of ENEC’s new suppliers signed this statement.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria
Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.8
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.1
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by ENEC, 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 original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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