5.1 Objectives and description of the impact analysis process, results

[GRI 2-29]  [GRI 3-1]  [GRI 3-2]  [GRI 3-3]

We take a strategic approach to sustainability, with the direction of our activities set in our Sustainability (ESG) Strategy for 2022-2025. In our activities, we always consider their impact on our stakeholders, our natural surroundings and the economy.

Since 2020, we have published a separate report presenting the effects of our social and economic impact. Each year, we strive to broaden our approach in terms of the data we present. As we were preparing the third edition of the report, we decided to refresh its formula, taking into account the requirements of the upcoming regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and the impact disclosure guidelines defined in the new GRI standards. In this year’s edition, we also expanded the scope of the information presented compared to previous years, which includes a broader perspective on our impacts. Some economic data are presented in greater detail than in other areas in order to maintain consistency with previous editions and ensure comparability of data. We make sure that each year our impact report covers a broader and more accurate range of data.

In order to meet the requirements of the GRI standards – which demand that we begin materiality analysis of different topics by examining the organisation’s impact on its surroundings – and the requirements of the CSRD, we carried out an impact analysis by involving representatives from many parts of our organisation.

This approach is consistent with the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). According to the new regulations, in future years we will be required on the one hand to identify the areas of our impact and on the other to assess how this affects our financial performance (the so-called dual materiality principle). This year, we adopted such a perspective for the first time.

As we launched the work on the Sustainability Report in January 2023, a workshop was held at ERGO Hestia’s headquarters to identify the areas that we impact as an organisation. The workshop was attended by 23 people representing various departments within the ERGO Hestia Group and representatives working for ERGO Hestia Group’s subsidiaries. Participants were involved in the process of identifying both positive and negative impacts in three dimensions: social, economic and environmental. Negative impacts were identified in the environmental dimension only. Participants listed more than 100 factors that the ERGO Hestia Group influenced in 2022.

One of the elements of the workshop was an attempt to identify the factors that influence the company’s financial standing according to the dual materiality principle defined in the CSRD.