Impact of our energy generation plants

The process to identify and assess the material impacts, risks and opportunities related to pollution is part of our annual Group-wide double materiality analysis and risk inventory. As part of this process, all our facilities (e.g. energy generation analyses, grid infrastructure, waste incineration plant in Dürnrohr and wastewater treatment plants) are identified and surveyed for environmentally relevant emissions into the air, water and soil using the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), which also specifies relevant pollutant concentrations and thresholds, among others for the energy sector. Based on their technical knowledge, our internal experts review and evaluate the pollutant potential for every plant. The identification of potential pollutant emissions leads to determination of the respective scope. Emissions from our plants that exceed the limits defined by E-PRTR are classified as material and included in our internal monitoring process for the non-financial indicator database. The next step involves the identification of the causes and the development and evaluation of measures.

In addition, our experts also carry out an annual analysis of other environmental aspects, such as air, water, soil , resource consumption and waste generation, at the EVN locations audited under an environmental management systems (ISO 14001, EMAS). Feedback from approval procedures, stakeholder dialogues and public participation is systematically taken into account. This technical legal audits as well as the inclusion of the internal and external stakeholders are an integral part of our annual materiality and risk process. Environmentally relevant feedback and assessments by our stakeholders are evaluated by the experts in the corporate function Innovation and Sustainability and flow into our analysis. 

The identification of material impacts, risks and opportunities in our value chain is based on automated data analysis with a tool for supplier risk analysis and monitoring and on internal know-how, research papers and merchandise group-specific ENCORE scores. The combination of instruments and sources permits an initial estimate of the potential impacts and risks in our value chain. Air pollution from the provision and use of energy carriers and water pollution were identified as material for our value chain.

Further information can be found in our Full Report.