Commit to decarbonisation and increase the amount of waste treated according to circular economy principles. Support municipalities in sustainable urban drainage development. Increase the number of plants managed remotely and those digitised with the application of artificial intelligence. Create a virtuous ecosystem of corporate social responsibility that is shared and disseminated through supplier awareness. Value people, close the gender pay gap and promote diversity inclusion.
And, above all, expand its own activities through hydraulic risk management, the development of infrastructure to increase the resilience of the territory and the production of energy from renewable sources.
These are some of the new objectives that Gruppo CAP has included in its new Sustainability Plan, a document that will guide the company's choices in the coming years and that is the result of an evaluation of the results achieved so far, but also of an analysis of the external context, which has changed profoundly compared to 2019, the year in which the green utility published its first plan.
FROM WATER UTILITY TO GREEN UTILITY
The new sustainability plan is first and foremost a strategy for sustainable development, with a long-term vision up to 2033, identifying the challenges facing the sector, the results already achieved and the next objectives. It marks the completion of the process of redefining the business model through which CAP has integrated sustainability into its industrial operations. The aim is to ensure long-term value creation for shareholders, employees, stakeholders and the community, and to lay the foundations for a more sustainable future for future generations.
THE CAP GROUP’S NEW SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY
In this era of climate crisis and socio-political and economic instability, which have shattered beliefs that seemed entrenched, CAP has chosen to invest in the transformation of the water sector and the integration of environmental sustainability into business to become what it is today: the green utility capable of enabling the transition of the territory.
CAP's sustainability strategy is based on 3 pillars that describe the identity of CAP and its people: Sensitive, Resilient and Innovative. Sensitive to people’s needs, to increase the well-being and trust of increasingly aware and demanding. Resilient in assets, governance and management to protect an essential asset for life. Innovative in the market, to anticipate the rules and feed our ability to network.
The three pillars are in turn divided into 9 macro-objectives, for a total of 45 performance indicators.
In continuity with the document developed in 2019, Gruppo CAP has adopted a participatory approach to build the new sustainability plan, involving employees, the local community, partners, customers and stakeholders. The document is therefore the result of a collaborative effort by CAP management to chart a new course after listening carefully to all stakeholders in the value chain.
Annual monitoring of KPIs, scenario analysis to update objectives and targets and, finally, analysis of changes in the internal context of the company's development: on the basis of these three inputs, Gruppo CAP identified the three drivers of change: the current scenario, understood as the set of regulatory and socio-environmental changes that determine the need to review objectives and targets; consistency, which forced the green utility to align its strategy with the business and all the governance and strategic planning tools; and finally rationalisation according to the SMART method, for which each objective is Specific, Measurable, Assigned, Realistic and Timed.
Furthermore, the three pillars - Sensitive, Resilient and Innovative - have been linked to three business lines identified in the new CAP industrial plan: the first, the innovation of the water service, the core and starting point of the strategy, which concerns innovations that link water, energy and waste; the second, based on partnership for the green transition, which places CAP in the regional and national management of circular economy facilities and resilient water infrastructures; finally, the most ambitious, which opens CAP to new markets for sustainability, taking full advantage of territorial and sustainability synergies.
WATER, FIRST OF ALL
Rising temperatures, droughts and extreme weather events have highlighted the importance of water. So the water sector needs to rethink its strategies, integrating industrial plans with mitigation and adaptation measures. For Gruppo CAP, this means broadening the scope of its activities to include related areas such as hydraulic risk management, the construction of infrastructure to increase the resilience of the territory, and the production of energy from renewable sources. This confirms that water is at the heart of Gruppo CAP's industrial strategy.
2023 RESULTS
Five years after the development of the first Sustainability Plan, it is possible to confirm that the strategy adopted is plausible and that the company has created a path to achieve its sustainability goals by integrating them into its industrial action. Sustainability commitments are being translated into concrete actions that have a positive impact. The main successes include the large number of sustainable urban drainage interventions and the high rate of innovation. To this end, CAP has activated some 70 million euros worth of infrastructure renewal projects. 3D mapping of all networks will also be completed to simulate the interventions under consideration in order to minimise the impact on the ground.
However, there are also targets that require more effort or that need to be redefined to make them more challenging and relevant, such as the target for per capita water consumption and the target for tap water in relation to the use of bottled water, which is a critical issue despite the resources devoted to raising awareness. In the coming years, it will also be appropriate to focus on the issue of decarbonisation, for which Gruppo CAP has defined its objectives in line with the indications of SBTi, which has confirmed the soundness of the Lombardy utility's objectives. On the other hand, in terms of reducing water losses, Gruppo CAP is in line with the targets set, but has not yet reached the 15% target set for 2033. The green utility is also looking at European best practices, such as Germany, which had a water loss rate of 7% in 2001.
MACRO-OBJECTIVES TO 2033
Sensitive
- Water taken from the environment (l/inhabitants/day): 325.49
- Citizens who say they drink only, or almost only, tap water (% of citizens from annual survey): 70%
- Gender pay gap (Average hourly wage difference by level): ≤5% (target 2030)
Resilient
- CO2 reduction percentage: -25% (target 2030)
- Percentage of revenue aligned to taxonomy: 77% (target 2030)
- Water drained in the served territory (% increase compared to baseline): +28.6
Innovative
- Processes managed with AI integration (no. processes): 21
- Suppliers with an ESG score greater than or equal to 70/94 in the Vendor Rating assessment: 28%
- Research projects in cooperation with research institutions, universities, innovation players and companies in the: 17