The Group’s sustainable development strategy is also managed through the Local Committees, bodies which have been established to strengthen relationships with the local areas, analyse and anticipate needs, encourage innovative environmental and social initiatives, increase widespread awareness of strategies and services offered, guaranteeing broad representation of the various realities of civil society and engaging Iren Group top management in stakeholder engagement.
Iren Local Committees were set up in 2014, to strengthen and make the dialogue with stakeholders systematic, as well as to guarantee deeper roots in local communities, thanks to participatory planning actions and moments of consultation on environmental and social sustainability, innovation and the quality of the services provided by the Group.
The Committees are also a tool to collect, through the participatory planning platform Irencollabora.it, the ideas and proposals of residents to design new sustainable development solutions, enhancing the experience, knowledge, and skills of local communities to create shared value and generate growth for the Group and for the areas in which it operates, with the aim of generating concrete and tangible projects (see page 176). The information flow produced by the platform is also a source that inspires Iren to adopt innovative service strategies and anticipate the needs of the local areas.
The Committees are made up of 15-18 members, the representatives of Local Bodies and Associations, who offer voluntary and free participation. In addition to these, there are five members by right: a representative of the Municipal capital, a representative of the provincial Municipalities, a representative of the Local University, the Iren Deputy Chairperson and the Chairperson, as a permanent guest.
Through specific internal working groups, each Committee oversees the activities for the best implementation of the projects, proposed by the Committees themselves or by citizens via Irencollabora.it. In 2021, despite the difficult situation caused by the pandemic, 71 meetings of Committees and working groups were held, mostly remotely, and in December 2021, the platform Irencollabora.it counted 2,009 registered profiles and 110 proposed projects.
Through Local Committees, stakeholders can also submit issues to the Group’s attention to issues concerning the services rendered, as well as environmental and social sustainability topics.
The Iren Deputy Chairperson, who is a member of the Local Committees, reports regularly to the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Board of Directors, on the trend of the activities and the discussion and planning activities carried out within the Committees.