What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2016 Global Responsibility Report Walmart identified a range of material issues, such as supporting local manufacturing, continuing responsible sourcing practices, ensuring food and product safety, eliminating waste in operations, supporting local community causes. Among these, in the face of global warming and amidst global efforts to combat climate change, reducing energy intensity and emissions in its operations stands out as a key material issue for Walmart.

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 organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

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 Walmart engages with:

Stakeholder Group

Customers

Associates

Suppliers

Advisory councils

Community leaders

Grantees

NGOs

Government leaders

Investors

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

Walmart engaged with its stakeholders, to explore their perspectives on its most important issues, through interviews, discussions, working sessions and surveys, which included a 1,750-respondent survey carried out by Sustainalytics.

What actions were taken by Walmart to reduce energy intensity and emissions in its operations?

In its 2016 Global Responsibility Report Walmart reports that it took the following actions for reducing energy intensity and emissions in its operations:

• Investing in renewable energy sources
• 2015: Walmart had more than 2 billion kWh of renewable energy installed or contracted from over 470 projects globally.
• Walmart covers 25% of its energy needs worldwide from renewable energy sources.

• Reducing Walmart’s energy demand through energy efficiency
• 2014: Walmart installed more than 10,000 high-efficiency rooftop heating and cooling units (RTUs), saving 89 million kWh per year.
• 2015: Walmart operated with 10% less energy per square foot (compared to 2010), a 1% improvement in comparison with 2014.

• Improving refrigeration systems in Walmart’s stores
• Walmart is incorporating refrigeration and store designs that facilitate the transition from high Global Warming Potential refrigerants (GWP) to the use of new, environmentally friendly, refrigerant gases and less HFC-reliant systems (hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases)

• Increasing the efficiency of Walmart’s U.S. fleet
• [tweetthis]2015: Walmart doubled the efficiency of its U.S. fleet[/tweetthis], avoiding emissions of almost 650,000 metric tons of CO2.

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:

1) G4-EN3: Energy consumption within the organization – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 302-1 Energy consumption within the organization

2) G4-EN15: Direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 1) – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 305-1 Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions

3) G4-EN16: Energy indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 2) – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 305-2 Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions

4) G4-EN17: Other indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 3) – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 305-3 Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions

5) G4-EN18: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 305-4 GHG emissions intensity

6) G4-EN19: Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 305-5 Reduction of GHG emissions

7) G4-EN30: Significant environmental impacts of transporting products and other goods and materials for the organization’s operations, and transporting members of the workforce

 

References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Walmart, 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) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

Note to Walmart: With each case study we send out an email to your listed address in request for a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2014 Sustainability Report E.ON identified a wide range of material issues, such as the environmental impacts caused by greenhouse-gas emissions, customer satisfaction including pricing and labelling, waste management, including radioactive waste, emergency preparedness and response plans, responsible handling of customer data. Among these, the need to develop environmentally friendly products and services stands out as a critical issue.

 

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 organisation should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

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 responsibly.

 

Key stakeholder groups E.ON engages with:

Stakeholder Group

Customers

Shareholders and investors

Employees

Suppliers and business partners

Communities and regions

Policymakers, society, and the general public

NGOs and sustainability experts

 

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

E.ON interacts with its stakeholders in a variety of ways and forums, depending on the stakeholder group and the issue. These range from simply providing information to involving stakeholders closely in its decision-making processes. In 2014 E.ON held stakeholder surveys and discussions on the development of its corporate strategy. The basis of these were the eight megatrends identified the year before by its Strategy department in close collaboration with renowned external experts from the scientific and political community, customers, business partners and the company’s own senior executives. This was followed up during the year by numerous internal workshops and events with employees. In them, E.ON discussed strategy elements, options and corporate values. The rounds of discussions were a key component of the overall strategy process. This ensured that E.ON’s new strategic focus had a broad base and met key stakeholders’ expectations.

In 2014 E.ON Sverige conducted a regional materiality analysis with customers, journalists, environmental and sustainability experts, politicians and other stakeholders. 250 people were invited to complete an online survey. Of those, 134 (over half) provided feedback.

As part of the E.ON in Dialog communications campaign launched in Germany in 2006, E.ON deploys its employees as E.ON ambassadors. This enables them to field stakeholders’ questions, concerns and complaints. In 2014 around 165 employees were involved in the campaign, spending 78 days spread throughout the year working as ambassadors. They proactively engaged in dialogue with visitors at 36 events to explain E.ON’s position on current energy policy issues. Almost 30,000 visitors – of whom 2,600 were from a political background – visited one of E.ON’s dialogue booths. For the first time in 2014 E.ON also organised micro-conferences in Germany as part of E.ON in Dialog, holding 34 events of this type in Hamburg at the leading international trade fair WindEnergy.

E.ON also participates in a number of international forums and initiatives, such as Bettercoal, an initiative established by leading European power companies that aims to improve sustainability in the coal supply chain and the World Energy Council (WEC), campaigning globally for an affordable, reliable and eco-friendly energy supply.

 

What actions were taken by E.ON to develop environmentally friendly products and services?

E.ON set the following targets regarding the development of environmentally friendly products and services, based on the Group’s approach to materiality – on taking action on what matters, where it matters:

• Offering green power products

E.ON offers residential and business customers a variety of green power products in response to the public’s heightened environmental awareness. E.ON sold 10 TWh of green power in 2014, which represented 4.5 percent of its total retail sales volume in its eleven markets. In the summer of 2014 E.ON introduced a TÜV-certified green power product for wholesale customers in response to their demand to support renewable energy producers directly. At least 60 percent of the guarantees of origin came from E.ON assets, half from hydroelectric stations in Germany, half from wind farms in Italy.

• Promoting climate-friendly mobility

E.ON promotes low-carbon mobility with vehicles powered by electricity and natural gas. With manufacturers offering better electric vehicles, E.ON expects this market segment to grow significantly and undertook projects to raise awareness and encourage people to embrace e-mobility. Natural-gas-powered vehicles (NPVs) emit approximately 25 per cent less carbon dioxide than comparable gasoline-powered vehicles. E.ON currently operates more than 120 NPV fuelling stations in Germany and 63 in Sweden, of which 42 are open to the public and 21 are for public transport vehicles.

• Providing consumers with smart meters and energy-saving solutions

An EU directive enacted in 2009 requires member states to provide end-customers with smart power and gas meters that enable them to continually monitor their energy usage. Its purpose is to give consumers a more pro-active role in the energy market and to create incentives for greater energy efficiency. E.ON has completed the rollout of smart meters in Sweden and Spain and began the rollout in the United Kingdom in 2012, expecting to equip all of its 8 million plus customers there with a smart meter by 2021. A smart meter is an essential component for many energy-saving solutions, including “100Koll”, a toolkit E.ON designed for residential customers in Sweden. They can use it to monitor their electricity consumption in real time. It also gives customers the capability to remotely turn on and off appliances and other electronic devices. In 2014 E.ON provided the 100Koll toolkit to more than 120,000 customers, making it the company’s biggest-ever product launch. Another solution – the Customer Engagement Toolkit, which E.ON introduced in October 2013 – enables E.ON’s residential customers in the United Kingdom to monitor their energy usage and compare it with that of similar households. Participants can use social media like Facebook and Twitter to share their energy-saving successes with others.

• Providing business customers with energy-efficiency solutions

In 2014 E.ON Connecting Energies (ECT) significantly expanded its service offerings to industrial, commercial and public-sector customers. ECT designs, finances, installs and operates on-site generation equipment and systems that deliver average savings of 50 percent and in some cases up to 80 percent. The decisive incentive is that customers bear little cost in becoming more energy efficient because ECT pays the up-front costs and guarantees savings. The wider portfolio of services includes ECT Potsdam which provides companies with the ability to monitor and control equipment powered by all types of fuel 24/7. E.ON’s small and medium-sized enterprise customers in the United Kingdom have access to the Saving Energy Toolkit, which provides a variety of tips, including advice on energy-saving machinery and equipment. More than 40,000 of the company’s SME customers used the toolkit in 2014.

• Developing smart technology for homes and commercial buildings that delivers tangible energy savings

A series of pilot projects called “E-Energy: Smart Energy made in Germany” demonstrated that smart technology can help households reduce consumption by up to 10 percent and businesses by up to 20 percent. E.ON is helping to realise this potential through a variety of research and pilot projects. In early 2014 E.ON expanded its partnership with U.S.-based GreenWave Reality to improve its ability to offer customers secure, individually tailored solutions combining energy management and smart home infrastructure. In the same year E.ON also became an investor and partner in Leeo, a U.S.-based company that develops and provides smart home solutions consisting of simple and intelligent plug-and-play devices and related data services.

 

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:

1) G4-EN4: Energy consumption outside of the organization – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 302-2 Energy consumption outside of the organization

2) G4-EN7: Reductions in energy requirements of products and services – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 302-5 Reductions in energy requirements of products and services

3) G4-EN27: Extent of impact mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services

 

E.ON Facts and Figures:

E.ON is an international privately-owned energy supplier which is focused on renewables, energy networks and customer solutions, which are the building blocks of the new energy world. The conventional generation and energy trading businesses were combined into a distinct company, Uniper, as per 1st January, 2016. E.ON did spin off the majority of Uniper to E.ON’s shareholders and Uniper has been independently listed since September 12, 2016.

E.ON Group highlights

EUR in millions	2015	2014	+/- %
Electricity sales (billion kWh)	780.9	780.2	–
Gas sales (billion kWh)	1,721.8	1,171.0	+47
Sales	116,218	113,095	+3
EBITDA	7,557	8,376	-10
EBIT	4,369	4,695	-7
Underlying net income	1,648	1,646	–
Investments	4,174	4,637	-10
Employees (at year-end)	56,490	58,811	-4

 

References:

1) This case study is based on published information by E.ON, located at the links 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 links:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

http://www.eon.com/en/about-us/profile.html (Retrieved Oct 2016)

http://www.eon.com/en/about-us/profile/facts-and-figures.html (Retrieved Oct 2016)

2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2014 Sustainability Report HEINEKEN identified a range of material issues, such as advocating responsible consumption, sustainable sourcing, reducing CO₂ emissions. Among these, recognizing the critical importance of sustainable use and protection of water, protecting water resources stands out as a key material issue for HEINEKEN.

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 organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

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 HEINEKEN engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement (in 2014)
Customers and consumers	• In-depth discussions with a number of global retailers • ‘Brewing a Better World’ interactive area
Employees	• HEINEKEN Climate Survey • Enjoy Responsibly Day
Employee representatives	• Regular meetings  with the HEINEKEN European Works Council (EWC) • Many of HEINEKEN’s Operating Companies are  routinely in dialogue with labour unions and/or have works councils in place
Governments	• A group of more than 35 representatives from the European Commission visited HEINEKEN’s brewery in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands • Members of HEINEKEN’s executive board actively participated at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014 • HEINEKEN’s CEO co-chaired the World Economic Forum on Africa 2014, held in Abuja, Nigeria in May • The Heads of State of Burundi and Sierra Leone and the Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo visited HEINEKEN in the Netherlands
Industry associations	• Together with the Brewers of Europe, European Aluminium Association and the European Container Glass Federation, HEINEKEN began a pilot scheme for the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) project • HEINEKEN continued its involvement with a large number of industry platforms and roundtables, including Green Freight Europe, the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) and the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition
Investors	• HEINEKEN engaged with institutional investors during the Environment Forum in Paris • HEINEKEN presented at TBLI (Triple Bottom Line Investing) Conferences in New York and Amsterdam  on its Brewing a Better World agenda • Regular dialogue with shareholder groups such as the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) and the Guilé Foundation • Routine contact with Eumedion and other investor groups on  a variety of governance and regulatory issues
NGOs and international organisations	• Work with NGOs such as EUCORD, The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and the Clinton Global Initiative in HEINEKEN’s local sourcing projects in Africa and Haiti • Ongoing dialogue with NGOs on a wide range of topics. These NGOs included Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, WWF, The Humane Society, Both Ends and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
Suppliers	• Engagement for sustainable raw materials with both individual suppliers, such as HEINEKEN’s packaging suppliers, and suppliers of agricultural products, such as the Hopfenring group of German hop suppliers • Dialogue with potentially high-risk suppliers through EcoVadis • HEINEKEN launched ‘Frontier’, a competition to engage new and existing innovative technology suppliers

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

• The Brewing a Better World priorities were defined in conversation with HEINEKEN’s stakeholders.
• To help it in its assessment HEINEKEN started hosting a series of ‘expert meetings’ in 2012. A large group of stakeholders, including NGOs such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International, scientists, industry and governments, met with HEINEKEN’s internal specialists to share insights about its sustainability performance.
• HEINEKEN continued with a new series of meetings in 2013 and 2014, and in 2015 organized a special NGO roundtable in Brussels to collect views on its Brewing a Better World strategy and the road ahead.
• These dialogue sessions helped HEINEKEN build and monitor a prioritised materiality matrix containing the issues, risks and opportunities most relevant to its business and stakeholders.

What actions were taken by HEINEKEN to protect water resources?

In its 2014 Sustainability Report HEINEKEN reports that it took the following actions for protecting water resources:

• Reducing water consumption in HEINEKEN’s breweries
• HEINEKEN reached its 2015 target a year early, reducing water consumption by 23% compared with 2008 (the baseline year).
• For the 23 HEINEKEN breweries in water-scarce and water-distressed areas HEINEKEN tries to find ways to reach a higher target of 3.3 hl/hl.
• 43 of HEINEKEN’s production units, representing more than 47% of total production volume in 2014, were already below the target of 3.5 hl/hl.
• HEINEKEN decreased water consumption at its breweries in Mexico by almost 3.5 million hectolitres in 2014 by optimizing water flows within the production process.
• Since acquiring, in 2011, Bedele Brewery in Ethiopia, the team almost halved water consumption to 5.1 hl/hl in 2014.

• Protecting water resources in water-scarce and water-distressed areas
• [tweetthis]HEINEKEN has been assessing water-related risks since 2010[/tweetthis], identifying 23 ‘Priority One’ breweries around the world in water-stressed areas, on which HEINEKEN focuses its immediate efforts. For each site, HEINEKEN decides, together with stakeholders, how vulnerable a local area is in terms of water risk and develops a step-by-step method for assessing and implementing water protection measures.
• In 2014 HEINEKEN focused its activities on its operations in Indonesia, Algeria and Nigeria.
• By the end of 2015 each of the 23 ‘Priority One’ sites should have a protection plan ready.

• Redressing the water balance in water-scarce and water-distressed areas
• In order to protect water resources in water-scarce and water-distressed areas, HEINEKEN works to redress the water balance by financing and supporting local projects aimed to:
  • conserve or restore water quantity, quality or biodiversity in the local watershed and/or
  • improve access to clean water for the local communities
• Ethiopia: HEINEKEN’s public-private partnership between the Harar Brewery, local government, Vitens International and other partners began to evaluate the area’s future water needs and the scope for building sand dams for sustainable groundwater storage. In November 2014 a platform was launched to engage all relevant local stakeholders in the Harar region and increase awareness regarding the significance of trans-boundary watershed management.
• Mexico: since the Monterrey Metropolitan Water Fund was established in 2013, reforestation of 50 hectares of severely degraded land began at the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. A density of 1,000 seedlings per hectare will be used. The ultimate goal of the fund is preservation of the San Juan River watershed, which supplies more than four million people in and around Monterrey.

• Reducing water consumption in HEINEKEN’s supply chain
• Water usage in growing HEINEKEN’s crops (mainly barley) represents around 90% of its total water footprint. Barley has a relatively low water footprint compared with other crops, but in some sourcing areas structural irrigation is needed to maintain optimal soil moisture and changing rainfall patterns as well as rising temperatures may lead to more irrigation in the future. HEINEKEN strives to address this challenge through its sustainable sourcing activities and its work with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI). Based on stakeholder consultations begun in 2014, a project group was formed to enhance HEINEKEN’s understanding of water and agriculture, identify sourcing areas and ‘hot spots’ and look for opportunities for improvement.

• Making sure that effluent from HEINEKEN’s production units is treated before discharge to surface water
• HEINEKEN makes sure that effluent from its production units is treated before discharge to surface water, either through its own or third- party treatment.
• 2014: HEINEKEN’s production facilities discharged an estimated total of 25.9 kton of organic load into surface water, compared with 23.1 kton in 2013. The increase was mainly due to better and more complete data available in 2014, compared to 2013.

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:

1) G4-15: List externally developed economic, environmental and social charters, principles, or other initiatives to which the organization subscribes or which it endorses. – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 102-12 External initiatives

2) G4-16: List memberships of associations (such as industry associations) and national or international advocacy organizations in which the organization:

• Holds a position on the governance body
• Participates in projects or committees
• Provides substantive funding beyond routine membership dues
• Views membership as strategic – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 102-13 Membership of associations

3) G4-EN9: Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 303-2 Water sources significantly affected by withdrawal of water

4) G4-EN10: Percentage and total volume of water recycled and reused – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 303-3 Water recycled and reused

5) G4-EN12: Description of significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity

6) G4-EN13: Habitats protected or restored – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 304-3 Habitats protected or restored

7) G4-EN22: Total water discharge by quality and destination – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 306-1 Water discharge by quality and destination

8) G4-EN27: Extent of impact mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services

 

References:

1) This case study is based on published information by HEINEKEN, located at the links 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 links:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

http://www.theheinekencompany.com/sustainability/brewing-a-better-world/defining-our-priorities (June 2016)

http://www.theheinekencompany.com/sustainability/focus-areas/protecting-water-resources (June 2016)

2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

Note to HEINEKEN: With each case study we send out an email to your listed address in request for a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.