Case study: How Finavia creates economic value for its stakeholders
Finavia is a Finnish airport company that enables smooth international flight connections from Finland to the rest of the world through its national airport network. Finavia creates value for its owner, the State of Finland, and Finnish society as a whole Tweet This! by enabling efficient and reliable connections with the rest of the world, as well as by investing in the development of its airports.
This case study is based on the 2021 Annual and Responsibility Report by Finavia, 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.
In 2021, Finavia created sustainable, long-term value for its stakeholders by focusing on health security, maintaining a good customer experience and engaging in active cooperation with airlines to restore Finland’s flight connections. In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Finavia took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for suppliers
- create economic value for the state
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Finavia has identified;
- How Finavia proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Finavia to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2021 Annual and Responsibility Report Finavia identified a range of material issues, such as customer experience, Finland’s connectivity, responsible growth, global environmental impacts, compliance with standards. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Finavia.
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 s 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 Finavia engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Finavia engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Personnel
| · The development of occupational health services in response to changed needs · Supporting and activating temporarily laid-off personnel · Increased communication in response to the COVID-19 situation · Continuous cooperation with the management, employees and trade union representatives |
| The authorities (Finnish Customs, the Finnish Border Guard, the Police, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency) The environmental authorities Health authorities | · Maintaining and regularly reviewing the shared overview of the situation · Coordination and management of day-to-day operations · Continuous dialogue and distributing information |
| Financiers and owner
| · Continuous and open dialogue · The main owner’s participation in financing operations during the crisis |
| The state and local municipalities | · Continuous dialogue · Meetings, working groups |
| Residents in the proximity of airports
| · Open dialogue, hearing and influence · Environmental impacts of airports · Aircraft noise control |
| Companies operating at airports, partners, subcontractors and suppliers | · Effective and open dialogue · Careful contract and price negotiations using justified arguments and data
|
| Media | · Open communication |
| Military and state aviation
| · Regular cooperation meetings · Membership in the airspace control advisory group of the Ministry of Transport and Communications |
| General aviation
| · Local dialogue and meetings · Meetings of the cooperation body of Finavia and the Finnish Aeronautical Association · Relationships with interest groups and aviation schools |
| Passengers/ Customer experience
| · Health security during travel · Increasing the sense of security · Close cooperation with the authorities and regional health professionals to prevent the spread of COVID-19 · Open and regular customer communication |
| Airlines
| · Short-term forecasts and data produced by Finavia for use by airlines · Close cooperation between Finavia and airlines |
What actions were taken by Finavia to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2021 Annual and Responsibility Report Finavia reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2021, Finavia paid EUR 62 million for employee salaries and fees.
- Creating economic value for suppliers
- In 2021, Finavia paid EUR 323 million in purchases from service and goods suppliers.
- Creating economic value for the state
- In 2021, Finavia paid EUR 26.1 million in taxes and tax-like levies.
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 Finavia, 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:
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