SSE has published a Half-year Sustainability Statement to keep our customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders informed of the progress we’re making with our non-financial impacts. The statement, published alongside our Interim Results, is designed to complement the financial and operational report to shareholders.
The Half-year Sustainability Statement acts as an update to SSE's full Sustainability Report 2016, published earlier this year, which contains information about SSE's responsible approach to managing its social, environmental and economic impacts to ensure the long-term viability of the business.
In the six months since April, SSE has been awarded an A-rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for our efforts to reduce carbon emissions in financial year 2015/16, demonstrating further progress both on transparency and emission levels. SSE has been responding to the CDP Climate Change Results since its inception and makes its responses to the survey publically available.
In keeping with its values as a responsible business SSE has also published the actions it has taken to help address modern slavery. It published its Modern Slavery Statement in April 2016 and has taken steps to ensure the practice does not take place within its supply chain. Research by SSE suggests less than 1% of the industries or products SSE procures could be at risk of modern slavery and SSE is continuing to train its employees to ensure they are alert to the issue.
Rachel McEwen, SSE’s Director of Sustainability, said: “Sustainability reporting across Europe is reforming at a fast pace, and it is clear investors and other stakeholders expect much more detail about all the impacts a company makes.
"There's much more to SSE than simply it's financial and operational performance. That's why we want our social, economic and environmental performance to be open to scrutiny too.”
In key developments in Ireland since April 2016, the Half-year Sustainability Statement highlights how SSE Airtricity as a responsible service provider is helping customers in Ireland go green. In August 2016, SSE Airtricity was certified by the Commission for Energy Regulation as a supplier of 100% renewable energy in 2015 to its home and business customers1. The company supplied 5.3 TWh2 of renewable sourced energy to its customers in the same period, making SSE Airtricity the largest provider of 100% green energy in Ireland, and abating over 2 million tonnes3 of CO2 emissions on the island.
As a responsible employer, SSE Airtricity was named the Right Place to Work (Small/Medium) in June at the 2016 Irish News Workplace and Employment Awards in Northern Ireland. The award was made as a result of the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives in the region, including its Community Fund, Regional Scholarship, and ‘Be the Difference’ employee volunteering scheme, which has a high level of employee participation.
The Half-year Sustainability Statement can be viewed here. Feedback on this or any other aspects of our Sustainability performance can be sent to sustainability@sse.com.
1 100% renewable energy based on Fuel Mix Disclosure and CO2 Emissions for 2015, published by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), August 2016.
2 Total TWh supplied to homes and businesses based on Electricity Market Share by MWh published by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in Retail Market Reports for the periods Q1-Q4 2015.
3 Quoted CO2 emissions abated based on Average CO2 Emissions (t/MWh) in 2015 in the All-Island Single Electricity Market, and published by the CER in its Fuel Mix Disclosure and CO2 Emissions for 2015, August 2016.