EVN AG – Annual report – 30 September 2024
Industry: utilities
About the sustainability statement
General basis for preparation of sustainability statements
Under the title “EVN Full Report”, we publish an integrated annual and sustainability report for the previous financial year which covers the period from 1 October to 30 September. “EVN” subsequently refers – not least to improve readability – to the entire EVN Group and therefore to EVN AG as the parent company together with all fully consolidated subsidiaries.
Our goal for this publication is to provide equal treatment for financial and non-financial information, including the corporate governance report. In preparation for the mandatory application of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standards (CSRD) by EVN AG beginning with the 2024/25 financial year, this integrated report for 2023/24 is based on the structure of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). It is expressly noted that this report does not claim to comply with all ESRS requirements.
Scope of consolidation
The sustainability statement for 2023/24 was prepared on a consolidated basis and covers the fully consolidated companies in EVN’s scope of consolidation, which are included as of 30 September 2024 in accordance with IFRS consolidation requirements. Any deviations from this presentation for company-specific reasons are explained in a footnote to the respective metric. The scope of consolidation and any changes in comparison with the previous year are explained in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
In accordance with the operational control approach required by ESRS, five further companies that are not part of financial reporting due to their insignificance are included under the following standards: ESRS E1 “Climate change“, ESRS E2 “Pollution “ and ESRS E4 “Biodiversity and ecosystems“. These five companies are EVN-WIEN ENERGIE Windparkentwicklungs- und Betriebs GmbH & Co KG, Biowarme Amstetten-West-GmbH, Bioenergie Wiener Neustadt GmbH, Abwasserbeseitigung Kotschach-Mauthen Errichtungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, and Wasserver-und Abwasserentsorgungsgesellschaft Markische Schweiz mbH. This expanded reporting scope is also transparently presented for the involved metrics.
The disclosures on our strategic supplier management also address – as far as this is relevant and possible – the material impacts, risks and opportunities along the central value chain and the related strategies, measures and goals. Additional information on EVN’s value chain can be found beginning on page 27ff.
Further references
We prepared this full report and verified the data with the greatest possible diligence. Nevertheless, rounding, typesetting and/or printing errors can not be excluded. The use of automatic data processing equipment can lead to rounding differences in the addition of rounded amounts and percentage rates.
We use the following signs in this report:
EVN is committed to equal treatment in references to all genders in its internal and external publications, i. e. also in this full report.
This full report is available in German and English. In case of doubt, the German version takes precedence.
The editorial deadline for this report was 27 November 2024.
Disclosures in relation to specific circumstances
Estimates related to the value chain, sources of estimation and outcome uncertainty
This full report also contains forward-looking estimates and assumptions which are based on the information available to us up to the editorial deadline. Such statements are typically connected with terms such as “expect”, “estimate”, “plan”, “anticipate” etc. We would like to point out that actual circumstances – and, in turn, actual results – may differ from the expectations presented in this report for a variety of reasons.
Changes in the preparation or presentation of sustainability information
Non-financial reporting in previous financial years was based on the standards set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) “in accordance with the GRI-Standards 2021“. The selection of the content for the non-financial report followed the materiality principle defined by GRI reporting standards together with the inclusion of stakeholders. EVN’s most important activity and subject areas are defined by the EVN materiality matrix based on the results of the stakeholder survey and are reflected in the structure for this full report.
In preparation for the mandatory application of the CSRD beginning with the 2024/25 financial year, EVN carried out a double materiality analysis for this reporting period in accordance with ESRS requirements. This led, among others, to the alignment of material topics with the ESRS terminology. The previously used company-specific definition of EVN’s “areas of activity” was discontinued as was the application of the GRI standards beginning with the 2023/24 reporting period.
The structure of this report and, in turn, the sustainability statement for 2023/24 is oriented on the ESRS classification. The disclosures and metrics also correspond to ESRS requirements as far as possible. Any deviation in the calculation method for a metric is explained together the respective data, and the company-specific calculation method is explained. It is again noted that the voluntary, premature orientation of this report on ESRS is not connected with any claim to conformity with the new standards.
For the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions, the country-specific emission factors were based on national energy statistics and the resulting energy mix of the respective country for North Macedonia and Bulgaria beginning with the 2023/24 financial year (and retrospective for the 2022/23 and 2021/22 financial years. This applies to network losses (Scope 2, market-based) and to electricity sales volumes (Scope 3.3). This adjustment was made to increase transparency and to improve the presentation of a rapidly changing energy market. It is also noted together with the respective metric. Scope 3 category “3.6 Air travel“ is no longer part of reporting because the related data is immaterial. The prior year values were adjusted accordingly.
Corrections to prior periods
Any corrections to prior year metrics or values are explained together with the respective data.
Disclosures stemming from other legislation or generally accepted sustainability reporting pronouncements
EU Directive 2014/95/EU on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity-related information (NFI Guideline) was implemented in Austria through the Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (“Nachhaltigkeits- und Diversitatsverbesserungsgesetz”). In order to meet the related requirements, EVN opted to prepare a separate non-financial report for the 2023/24 consolidated financial statements and integrate this information in the full report. The disclosures required by the Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act on environmental, social and employee issues, respect for human rights and the fight against corruption are therefore presented under the – still separate – “sustainability statement” section. The statement also includes our reporting on the EU Taxonomy Regulation to meet the requirements of Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation (2020/852) as planned by the CSRD in the future.
For reporting on the EU Taxonomy Regulation, see page 42ff.
This report meets the requirements of the UN Global Compact and presents our progress in the related areas. The following corporate departments were primarily responsible for the collection, calculation and consolidation of data in accordance with national and international standards and with the guidelines for financial and sustainability reporting: accounting, controlling, human resources management, safety and infrastructure, procurement and purchasing, and innovation and sustainability.
The consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with § 245a of the Austrian Commercial Code based on the requirements of the IFRS issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the interpretations of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) which required mandatory application as of the balance sheet date and had been adopted by the European Union.
Application of European norms
EVN voluntarily implemented standardised management systems many years ago, among others to improve environmental performance. Detailed information on the applied norms (also see the following table) can be found under the disclosures on the individual topics.
Moreover, the business activities of our Group companies are certified according to various branch frameworks. Included here, among others, are:
- Sector regulations for network operations by Osterreichs Energie (Austria’s electricity industry association)
- Quality standards QS-WVU400 and AGB V40 issued by the Austrian Gas and Water Association (OVGW)
- Voluntary certification system “Sustainable Resources Verification Scheme“ (SURE) for all plants operated by EVN Warme which fall under the scope of application of RED II, which ensures the tracking and proof of sustainability under RED II criteria for the biomass used. This certification is expanded regularly based on legal requirements.
Application of European norms
External verification
BDO Assurance GmbH Wirtschaftsprufungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft was responsible for an audit with limited assurance of the consolidated non-financial report for the 2023/24 financial year in agreement with the requirements of the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act, § 267a of the Austrian Commercial Code, and Article 8 of the EU Taxonomy Directive ((EU)2020/852) in connection with the applicable Delegated Acts.
For the independent assurance report on the consolidated non-financial report, see page 123f.
Accounts examples 