Environmental management

The majority of Group Companies have implemented Integrated Management Systems certified in accordance with standard UNI EN ISO (see info. box Corporate Identity in the chapterCorporate governance and management systems). The Parent Company itself has an Integrated Management System with Quality, Environment, Safety and Energy components and a Management and Sustainability Systems Policy aimed at respecting and protecting the environment.

The UNI EN ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System ensures continual improvement and the capacity to identify and manage the impacts that the Company has or could have on the environment, promoting compliance with the continually changing regulations in force and a proactive approach in relation to environmental sustainability as a whole.

Some Group plants are subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under Art. 28 of Italian Legislative Decree 152/2006, as amended, with the aim of ensuring that “human activity is compatible with the conditions for sustainable development, i.e., constructed and operated in line with the regenerative capacity of ecosystems and resources, the preservation of biodiversity and a fair distribution of the benefits of economic activity”156. Furthermore, sites subject to EIA or IEA (Integrated Environmental Assessment) are required to adopt an Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) containing the set of measures used to assess the actual impact on the work on various environmental components (water, air, soil, fauna, flora, etc.). In the water segment, projects that are usually subject to EIA are aqueducts and treatment plants with a treatment capacity of over 10,000 population equivalent.

Some plants in the Environment sector may also be subject to EIA/ IEA such as, for example, the Orvieto Environmental hub, and the waste-to-energy sites in Terni and San Vittore del Lazio. The waste-to-energy plants are recorded according to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), a tool used to evaluate and improve environmental performance and report it to stakeholders. The commitment of the Operating Companies to maintaining the eciency of environmental Management Systems does not entirely exclude situations, usually provoked by contingent circumstances, that generate non-conformities that may be challenged by the competent Control Bodies and relevant Authorities. During the year, the Companies included in the scope of reporting, received approximately 40 environmental fines, with the consequent payment of fines totalling around € 136,800157. An additional 103 environmental disputes are currently being settled.

Environmental problems of greater significance are forwarded to the Units responsible, which establish the facts reported and where necessary, request the required action, as well as providing feedback to the Bodies involved. As an exception, it may happen that the Company also receives significant reports from individuals; in this case they will be checked and, where needed, it will intervene to resolve them.

In the electricity distribution sector, Areti may receive comments concerning alleged environmental damage to buildings that house electrical installations. This concerns installations necessary for the correct exercise of the electricity distribution network, created by the Company following authorisations granted by Bodies which are custodians of the land and therefore fully compliant with the legislation of reference, including both town planning and environmental legislation158. The Assets and Special Projects Unit, which protects the company’s assets, receives the notes of dispute from the owners of the immoveable properties that host transformer substations or are adjacent to power lines, and subsequently the Areti Health,

Quality, Safety & Environment Unit carries out the instrumental checks in response to the disputes. In 2023, 7 complaints were dealt with and resolved, with another 11 raised in previous years, also resolved.

156 Article 4, paragraph 3 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 on Environmental Regulations.
157 The data includes fines received in previous years but paid in 2023. With reference to Acque, Publiacqua and Umbra Acque, which are not included in the reporting boundary of the NFS, the fines paid were, respectively: ! 20,308; ! 30,000 and ! 9,000.
158 In this case, the environmental regulatory reference is D.P.C.M. of 8 July 2003.