The Integrated Report of the Poste Italiane Group this year has reached its sixth edition and aims to illustrate in an accurate, factual and transparent manner, all the activities, results achieved, their performance and services offered according to the systemic approach between financial and non-financial strategies in their respective overall vision.
The Integrated Report also illustrates how sustainability is increasingly integrated into the business model, providing a clear and comprehensive representation of the Company’s financial, environmental, social and governance performance. In fact, the deep integration of sustainability into the business, encapsulated in Poste Italiane’s purpose is also evidenced by a set of annual and multi-annual targets traceable to the eight pillars of the strategy designed to provide stakeholders with maximum transparency on the Group’s commitment in these areas and to report transparently on the progress achieved.
Through this approach, the Group aims to tell the story of its ability to generate and maintain value over time, both financially and non-financially, in the context and market in which it operates.
With this in mind, the document is a useful tool for stakeholders to gain a comprehensive understanding of the processes the Group has put in place to support the country’s growth and create shared value, describing what has been achieved while offering an overview of short-, medium- and long-term ambitions and goals.
The social and environmental impacts generated by the Group place the process of integrating sustainability into the business model at the centre of the value creation process for the Company and all its stakeholders, with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The path taken by the Group is underpinned by certain strategic and investment choices in the main forms of capital, such as financial, human, physical-structural, intellectual, social-relational and natural, i.e. assets which contribute to sustainable success of the Company, but which on the other hand are impacted by the activities of the Company itself. For this reason, in continuity with previous years, the document includes an overview of the correlation between the Company’s performance and the types of capital listed above, and for each of them the results achieved are illustrated in Chapter 2 “Highlights”.
Poste Italiane, through numerous ESG projects, aims to lead the country’s sustainability path, build an inclusive society and offer a greener future. Through this document, the Group aims to represent its green strategy, aimed at continuing its path of entry into the energy market, accelerating the energy transition process of the business. In addition to proposing sustainable products and offers, entering the energy market gives Poste Italiane a further boost in engaging customers and guiding them towards environmentally aware behaviour.
The Integrated Report is prepared by taking into account a wide range of international standards and guidelines to which the Group also adheres on a voluntary basis. In continuity with the preparation of the previous Integrated Report and consistent with regulatory requirements, the 2023 Integrated Report contains the section dedicated to the European Environmental Taxonomy, found within Chapter 9 “Consolidated Non-Financial Statements”. To this end, the Group undertook a careful analysis of its activities and the regulatory framework issued by European institutions and developed a specific methodological approach aimed at providing adequate disclosure. In line with the EU Regulation n.852/2020 (Taxonomy Regulation) and with the relevant regulatory evolutions that emerged during 2023, the Poste Italiane Group, taking into consideration its industrial and financial operations, has reported the percentages of Turnover, CapEx and OpEx and the share of investment/financing associated with eligible economic activities in relation to the six objectives provided by the EU Taxonomy, and aligned in relation to the first two environmental objectives. In addition, within Chapter 5 “Strategy” is described the methodology adopted by the Group for the materiality analysis, aligned in view of compliance with the forecasts related to the 2021 update of the GRI standards for the inside-out perspective, taking into account the provisions of EFRAG, contained in the new sustainability standards and in the Guideline on double materiality, although still in draft, for the outside-in perspective. The adoption of the double materiality process to identify Poste Italiane’s material issues allows the Group to conduct an analysis in anticipation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, scheduled for FY 2024.
In continuity with previous years, the 2023 Integrated Report contain the Consolidated Non-Financial Statement, which is integrated into the Report on Operations in the Chapter 9 thereof. The NFS was drawn up in accordance with the requirements of Articles 3 and 4 of Legislative Decree no. 254/2016 and the “Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards” defined by the GRI - Global Reporting Initiative (hereinafter “GRI Standards”) according to “in accordance” option. Chapter 9 of the section “Reporting standards and criteria” includes a connecting table that indicates the information content required by the Decree and its positioning within the Integrated Report, with the aim of making it easier to find all non-financial information. In addition, such content is also noted, to make it easily identifiable, by this infographic: NFS
The Group’s sixth Integrated Report was prepared by applying the Integrated Reporting framework published by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). In addition, Poste Italiane has, as well, taken into account ESMA1 priorities in giving disclosure in terms of reporting within the 2023 Annual Reports and Non-Financial Statements. ESMA identifies climate change issues as a priority in the non-financial report for 2023. As confirmation of Poste Italiane’s commitment to combating climate change, it should be noted that as of 2021 the Group has officially joined the supporters of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). In order to broaden the Group’s disclosure on the management of risks and opportunities related to climate change, this document illustrates how the Group’s activities are managed according to the recommendations of the TCFD, and also provides a table linking the Task Force on Climaterelated Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations with the contents of the Integrated Report. In addition, Poste Italiane was among the 320 organisations to adhere as early adopters to the new set of recommendations published by the TNFD to support organisations in identifying, assessing, managing and disclosing relevant nature-related issues (biodiversity, waste and water management, climate change agents, etc.), consistent with global policy objectives and international sustainability reporting standards. Finally, with the aim of reflecting potential future developments regarding climate change, Poste Italiane once again this year carried out a review of climate scenarios using as a reference the documents drawn up by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the main literature on the subject.
In line with previous years, the indicators used for the preparation of the 2023 Integrated Report were reclassified according to SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) standards, with the aim of contributing to the development of a shared and universal framework for non-financial reporting. In this sense, the indicators relating to “material ESG metrics” found in the latest version, from September 2020, of the document “Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation” presented to the World Economic Forum in January of the same year, have been reported again this year. By continuously updating its non-financial reporting methodology, the Poste Italiane Group demonstrates its commitment to the demands of the financial market, which is increasingly focused on assessing companies according to environmental, social and governance criteria.
The document also contains a table linking the objectives pursued by the Group, the GRI Standards indicators and the SDGs, which represents a useful tool to illustrate how the Company contributes to the achievement of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 targets, also incorporating the latest guidelines of the most up-todate version of the “SDG Compass” document drawn up by GRI, UN Global Compact and WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
In addition to the Integrated Report, the Annual Financial Report is composed of the following documents: the consolidated financial statements of the Poste Italiane Group, Poste Italiane’s separate financial statements, including Bancoposta RFC’s Separate Report, and the related attestations pursuant to art. 154 bis paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 and the reports of the Board of Statutory Auditors and the Independent Auditors, referring to the financial year ended 31 December 2023, and the Report on Corporate Governance and Ownership Structure published on the Company’s website, in the Governance section, which is to be considered an integral part and to which reference should be made for further details on the Corporate Governance structure.
ESMA document on European common supervisory priorities for 2023 “European common enforcement priorities for 2023 annual financial reports”, published on 25 October 2023.