What are the material issues the company has identified? 

In its 2022 Sustainability Report Hydro One identified a range of material issues, such as climate change, indigenous community engagement, energy transition, diversity, equity and inclusion. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Hydro One.

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 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 Hydro One engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics Hydro One engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Quarterly employee calls ·      Regular hybrid town halls ·      Annual employee experience survey ·      Annual DEI symposium ·      Focus groups ·      Employee resource groups
Customers	·      Information campaigns ·      Media campaigns ·      Regular satisfaction surveys and focus groups ·      Ongoing exchanges with account executives and customer service representatives ·      Customer education ·      Contact Centre interactions
Communities	·      Dedicated Community Relations team ·      Flexible engagement opportunities (virtually and in person)
Investors	·      Press releases, quarterly reports, quarterly investor and financial media calls, Annual Report ·      Virtual annual general shareholders’ meeting ·      Virtual investor events ·      Directors, including the Board Chair, as appropriate engage virtually with shareholders
Regulators & Governments	·      Interaction with all levels of government, IESO and Hydro One’s main regulator, the OEB ·      Advocacy on behalf of customers ·      Advocacy on policy related to Hydro One’s corporate priorities
Unions	·      Joint committees for key initiatives ·      Collective bargaining ·      Regular calls with the three largest unions
NGOs & Industry Associations	·      Participation in industry association conferences and events, councils, committees and working groups ·      Partnerships with industry associations

What actions were taken by Hydro One to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2022 Sustainability Report Hydro One reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2022, Hydro One paid $ 1,631 million to employees.

• Creating economic value for suppliers
• In 2022, Hydro One paid $ 5,309 million to suppliers.

• Creating economic value for providers of capital
• In 2022, Hydro One paid $ 1,199 million to providers of capital.
• Creating economic value for governments
• In 2022, Hydro One paid $ 488 million to governments.

• Creating economic value for indigenous businesses
• In 2022, Hydro One paid $ 96 million to indigenous businesses.

• Creating economic value for communities
• In 2022, Hydro One spent $ 4 million in community 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.

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References:

This case study is based on published information by Hydro One, 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.hydroone.com/Sustainability/Documents/CSR_2022/HydroOne_CSR_2022.pdf

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