What are the material issues the company has identified?  

In its 2021 Sustainability Report East Water identified a range of material issues, such as quality of products and services, occupational safety, health, and environment, measures to respond to climate change issues and water data management. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for East Water.

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:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

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 East Water engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Company’s customers	·      Meetings between executives and major customers ·      Satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Project progress monitoring ·      Meetings with customers to offer total water solutions and recommendations regarding project development ·      Satisfaction surveys (by internal functions) ·      Water meter monitoring ·      SCADA system proactive repairs and maintenance ·      Water war room keyman meetings ·      Water quality analysis reports ·      Discussion meetings with customers ·      Customer complaint channels ·      Communications and public relations via social media platforms such as the company’s website, Facebook, SMS, Microsoft Teams, and Line group ·      Meetings on special days/occasions ·      Water situation reports
Subsidiaries’ customers	·      After-service satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Customer complaint handling Communications and public relations via social media platforms such as the company’s website, Facebook, and Line@ ·      Meetings on special days/occasions
Regulatory bodies and government agencies relating to business undertakings	·      Studies on climate forecasts based on different climate models ·      Satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Meetings with government agencies and groups of water users ·      Relations activities ·      Water war room keyman meetings ·      Meetings with government agencies ·      Studies on and compliance with requirements, rules, regulations and laws ·      Communications and public relations via social media platforms such as the company’s website, Facebook, Line@ and Line group ·      Meetings on special days/occasions
Shareholders and investors	·      Annual general meetings of shareholders (AGM) ·      Satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Management discussion and analysis (MD&A) sessions ·      Activities to communicate corporate performance to investors/shareholders such as roadshows, company visits, conference calls, etc. ·      Q&A sessions via telephones and emails
Communities and government agencies	·      Satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Public relations activities for projects ·      Follow-up meetings on community-related issues and solutions ·      CSR activity assessments ·      Meetings with government agencies and groups of water users ·      Life quality and environmental improvement activities for communities ·      Studies on and compliance with requirements, rules, regulations and laws ·      Communications and public relations via social media platforms such as the company’s website, Facebook, Line@ and Line group ·      Meetings on special days/occasions
Suppliers	·      Relations activities ·      Satisfaction surveys (by external agencies) ·      Meetings to explain the scope of work for projects worth Baht 1 million up ·      Anti-corruption policy ·      Declaration of intent to fight corruption ·      Supplier code of conduct for sustainable business development ·      Communications and public relations via social media platforms such as the company’s website and Line group ·      Registration of suppliers (selection, registration, assessment, and review of the registration) ·      Personal data protection practices for Suppliers
Directors	·      Site visits ·      Board of Directors’ meetings
Company’s executives and employees	·      Satisfaction and employee engagement surveys (by external agencies) ·      Meetings with 2 sets of Workplace Welfare Committees ·      CEO meetings with employees ·      Management meetings ·      Meetings with 2 sets of Occupational Safety, Health, and Environment Committees ·      Receipt of employee complaints ·      Personal data protection practices for employees and job applicants
Subsidiaries’ executives and employees	·      Satisfaction and employee engagement surveys (by external agencies) ·      Meetings with the Workplace Welfare Committee ·      Management meetings ·      Meetings with the Occupational Safety, Health, and Environment Committee ·      Receipt of employee complaints

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics East Water engaged with its stakeholders through formal and informal opinion surveys such as meetings, seminars, interviews, or dialogues as well as opinion and satisfaction surveys with each group of stakeholders.

What actions were taken by East Water to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report East Water reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2021, East Water paid Baht 388,067,383 for employee salaries and benefits.

• Creating economic value for the government
• In 2021, East Water paid Baht 263,025,798 in income tax contributed to the government.

• Creating economic value for shareholders
• In 2021, East Water paid Baht 0.18 per share to shareholders.

• Creating economic value for the community
• In 2021, East Water spent Baht 16,532,020 in community development investments.

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

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
References:

This case study is based on published information by East Water, 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://www.eastwater.com/media_file/sustainability_report_file_lang/17/Eastwater-sd-2021-en-web_compressed.pdf

Note to East Water: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.