Dear Readers,
You are reading the second CEZ Group Sustainability Report, covering the year 2017. It will present to you our plans for operations in Czechia and abroad through nonfinancial information, with focus on our responsible businesses practices. We know that the importance and size of CEZ Group arouse a number of expectations: of our shareholders, business partners, employees, and the public. After all, the energy industry is an industry that considerably affects the entire economy of Czechia and the EU, its surroundings and the environment, as well as our future. The management of the parent company ČEZ, a. s., and other CEZ Group companies understand their responsibility for the quality of relationships with employees, customers, investors, trade unions, the media, the professional and lay public, local administrations, and suppliers.
We have made a big step ahead in this area over the past few years. We prepared a sustainable development strategy named “Energy for the Future,” formulating five strategic priorities for sustainable development within the whole CEZ Group already in 2016. They are a manifestation of our responsible behavior, fully reflecting and being closely tied to CEZ Group’s business strategy. The first section of the report concerns CEZ Group’s business activities, management methods, and objectives; we also recap our approach to internal and external ethics, including values, principles, and standards, there.
In the second, main section, of the report, we detail our strategic priorities for sustainable development, namely: Ensure Sustainable Operation, Be a Good Partner, Bring Useful Solutions to Customers, Enable Energy Sector Transformation, and Start the Engine of Innovation. You can read about our activities, interesting and successful projects, as well as the challenges we face when undertaking them. For example, we have a track history of successful projects in decentralized energy, covering smart energy houses, the smart city concept, and zero-emission electric mobility. The ÚJV Řež Group inaugurated its newest laboratory complex, built under the SUSEN (SUStainable ENergy) project, in 2017. CEZ Group maintains the position of one of the most attractive employers in Czechia and we manage to hire new employees despite a very low unemployment rate. We also manage to increase the percentage of women in CEZ Group governance bodies, which exceeded the 10% boundary in 2017. Responsibility for the environment, technical development, and social progress in communities includes the adoption and application of 17 global sustainable development goals (SDGs) announced by the UN. We are actively engaged especially in the following ones: Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements, or Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.
Beyond the statutory scope for providing selected nonfinancial information, we adopted the latest, more comprehensive GRI Standards guidelines for preparing our report. We make the CORE disclosures by publishing this second CEZ Group Sustainability Report. The GRI Standard Content Index is included in the third, final section.
Dear readers, the concept of sustainable development is crucial to the business of such a large and important corporation as CEZ Group, going much further than social responsibility activities. This report provides a comprehensive summary of our activities in this respect and I believe it will be interesting and inspirational to read.
Michaela Chaloupková
Member of the Board of Directors
Chief Administrative Officer
CEZ Group Sustainability Leader