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 has adopted an Integrated Management System with Quality, Environment, Safety and Energy systems that facilitates environmental compliance and a Management and Sustainability Systems Policy aimed at promoting the respect and protection of the environment, also in line with the main principles of the Code of Ethics, and updated in 2022.
The UNI EN ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System offers greater capacity to identify and manage the impacts that the Company has or could have on the environment by promoting compliance with the regulations in force.
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”¹⁴⁷. Furthermore, all 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 sector, 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 hub, and the waste-to-energy plants in Terni and San Vittore del Lazio. The waste-to-energy plants have also adopted the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), an instrument used to evaluate and improve environmental performance and report it to stakeholders.
The Group's operating companies are committed to ensuring the continued efficiency of the Environmental Management System through the correct management of impacts and regulatory compliance. This commitment, however, does not prevent the emergence of situations, usually caused by contingent circumstances, that may lead to cases of non-compliance that can be challenged by the competent control bodies and authorities (see the box on Investigations, Awards and Sanctions in the Institutions and the Company chapter). During the year the companies included within the scope of the NFS received approximately 60 environmental fines, with the consequent payment of approximately € 272,500¹⁴⁸. An additional 56 environmental disputes are currently being settled. Environmental problems of greater significance are forwarded to the Units responsible, which establish the facts reported and request the necessary action, as well as providing feedback to the Bodies involved. Exceptionally, it may happen that the Company receives significant reports from individual persons; 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. However, this concerns installations indispensable 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 legislation¹⁴⁹. 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 Risk & Compliance and Safety Unit carries out the instrumental checks in response to the disputes. In 2022 8 complaints were processed, which have not yet been closed as the counterparties have submitted appropriate appeals to the relevant Courts.

147 Article 4, paragraph 3 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 on Environmental Regulations.
148 The data includes fines received in previous years but paid in 2022. With reference to Acque, Publiacqua and Umbra Acque, which are not included in the reporting boundary of the NFS, the fines paid were, respectively: €43,555; €58,500 and €150,000.
149 In this case, the environmental regulatory reference is D.P.C.M. of 8 July 2003.