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:

“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 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

 

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 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:

https://www.finavia.fi/sites/default/files/documents/Finavia_Annual_and_Responsibility_Report_2021.pdf

Note to Finavia: 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.