Stakeholders and relationship capital

In Snam's business model, the stakeholders “interpret” the industry environment and can influence, sometimes decisively, the conditions which determine the availability of the different capitals which the business needs in order to be able to operate. These close ties with the capitals, which develop around material issues of mutual interest, enable the stakeholders to benefit from the value that the business creates through its activities.

In order to develop our business activities, internal cohesion, image and reputation are also important. As a result, it is essential to manage our long-term relations with stakeholders (social and relationship capital) by focusing on trust, listening, being universally open and transparent, and attempting to maintain and develop constructive dialogue both within and outside the Company.

As evidence of this, again in 2018, Snam met with its stakeholders at the Partners’ Day, held late November at Officine del Volo in Milan, witnessed by more than 500 suppliers, clients, employees, institutions, financial communities and media. The initiative was characterised by the attendance of the Chairman of the Board, Giuseppe Conte, and numerous speakers from the company’s senior management and representatives of institutions. For the occasion, three new initiatives were presented on matters of innovation and the energy transition and social business: the Snamtec project, under the scope of which the company will invest 850 million euro by 2022 to construct the energy business of the future, the “Social Supply Chain”, a policy that will facilitate the direct involvement of social businesses in the supply chain and foster the inclusion, also as subcontractors, and the new open innovation platform, “Snam Up”. During the course of the day, discussions were held on the territories’ social development policies, on the role played by companies as a driver of sustainable growth and on the future of energy, as well as on themed tables dedicated to matters of interest to the business, ranging from innovations in the supply chain to the digital transformation, network and site safety to open innovation and energy efficiency to the new lean working methods adopted in the company. A strategic agreement has also been stipulated with SEAT for natural gas and renewable gas sustainable mobility in Europe.

Engagement of people

Through internal communication, Snam promotes the involvement of people with regard to events and activities which affect the company, with the aim of stimulating participation in the processes of change, especially from a cultural point of view.

The 2018 internal communication plan focussed on the enriching of contents and the increase in the frequency of update of all channels currently in place, as well as on the introduction of new initiatives, activities and information formats and the involvement of people, also thanks to the collaboration with the Snam Foundation and Snam Institute.

The collaboration with the Snam Foundation has made it possible to launch two initiatives in support of the company’s social commitment and foster the strengthening of team-building and relations between people: in addition to the Snam Volunteer Day, which was held throughout Italy, this year eleven sites of the company also organised the Christmas with the Family initiative, involving employees, their children and local charities. As regards the information format, the dissemination of streaming methods and events webinars has enabled the Snam Institute to finalise a plan of training initiatives accessible via the company intranet. This will make it possible to expand participation by the company population in courses organised with a view to spreading new working philosophies and the digital culture (such as lean speech and digital journeys).

Market reputation

Though in regulated sectors Snam has a natural monopoly, when dealing with its customers it adopts an approach based on a competitive market, in which it is essential to understand how the customer perceives value.

In November 2018, a new online survey was conducted, involving all Shippers and Traders with whom Snam collaborated in the recently concluded Thermal Year 2017-2018.

The analysis was extended to include transmission, storage and regasification. The survey covered customer satisfaction over the quality of services offered, customer engagement activities carried out by the Company and the additional functions and services introduced in 2018, also in view of the needs emerging from the clients themselves during previous meetings and regulatory evolutions.

The participation rate was 55% and about 93% of the results showed great satisfaction with the Customer Engagement activities which were developed by Snam to improve the services offered and consolidate a proactive collaboration with its contacts. All observations received provide a starting point from which to identify specific action to increase the efficiency of Snam’s work yet further. In 2018, four workshops were held aimed at discussing the function of the balancing and market. In particular, the meetings provided an opportunity to discuss innovations and the progress of balancing and transmission, storage and regasification activities, as well as providing feedback on the process of updating IT systems.

Commercial stakeholders were also met during the Partners’ Day, during which, for the matters of interest, a debate was held on the digital transformation in the gas sector, in particular with reference to the blockchain and new technologies.

Relations with the Supply Chain

Snam carries out intense engagement activities with its suppliers to encourage growth and improvement of the supply chain and to create a common vision, sharing values, ideas, know-how, best practices and information.

In the context of the 2018 Partners’ Day, Snam met its suppliers during a technical session divided up into ten areas connected with the business activities that strengthened the dialogue, exchange of views and experiences.

Continuous communication with suppliers takes place through the Supplier Portal, the web platform through which existing and potential suppliers come into contact with Snam. On-line since 2013, the portal contains documents, insights, best practices, and updates on processes and procedures that govern the procurement status and activities. Registered suppliers also have a special reserved area, containing information regarding them directly (commodity sectors for which they are qualified, the contracts running, and their performance in terms of workplace safety, notifications for the invoicing of services provided). The Supplier Portal is a tool that is undergoing continuous evolution and constant growth: the new functions introduced year after year improve its efficiency and stimulate the frequency of use in interactions with Snam.

Late 2018, more than 2,000 suppliers were registered with the portal (+5% on 2017), with a number of one-time users that accessed at least once during the year, of 1,410 (+38%). The more than 470 thousand pages read during the year and the contents inserted both by Snam and suppliers (1,033, +83% on 2017) show that the website is lively and frequented.

Relations with local communities

Snam is present, through its infrastructure, in almost all the Country's regions, in areas and communities that vary in terms of culture, traditions and economic, social and environmental conditions.

In creating new infrastructure and in managing existing infrastructure, Snam takes a strict, transparent, collaborative and constructive approach to ensure the environmental compatibility of the sites and to facilitate their acceptance on the part of stakeholders.

The assessments of the environmental effects involve all the phases of the work life cycle, site selection, planning, construction, operation and decommissioning. These assessments are made within the purview of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure, at the end of which the central and local administrations issue the permits required under current law.

Snam also evaluates, in relation to the performance of the most important works (compression systems or large natural gas pipelines), the direct and indirect economic and social impact on the territory and on the local communities with “Social Impact Assessment” tools and methods. In particular, in 2018, in collaboration with the Department of Economy and Management of the University of Brescia, the method used was revised and a regional input-output model adopted. This model makes it possible to assess the impact of a project, calculating the value added generated by the investment starting from the total value of production.

Over time Snam has built a network of relationships with regional branches of Confindustria and other local associations to discuss issues of energy, economic and environmental policy affecting the territory. At a local level, the Company cooperates with authorities and participates to the works of numerous associations and committees, offering its commitment, skills and know how to participate to the social innovation and sustainable development processes.

To that end, the Company continues to collaborate with local and national authorities to best lay out its plans for carrying out the work to both the authorities and the affected communities. During the course of the year and in the transmission sector alone, 127 meetings were held with local government authorities and regional associations to present projects involving the construction of works. Together with the latter, 3 agreements concerning easements were stipulated.

In 2018, local communities were assigned donations and sponsorships for environmental compensations carried out in accordance with the law for a total of around 3 million euro.

The value of brand identity

Snam re-launched its brand identity, renewing the logo and values that will accompany it in its future challenges, from the development of infrastructures to guarantee stable, secure energy supplies, through to the development of gas as a renewable source. The logo, which has been renewed and is in line with the purpose “Energy to inspire the world”, remains intrinsically linked to Snam’s tradition, stressing the characteristics of the sustainability of natural gas with the inclusion of the colour green.

At the same time as the brand restyling, the new function and look of www.snam.it has also been unveiled. The website, which has evolved in a “One Company” approach, integrates the contents of the web pages of the operating companies and offers a space for information, interaction with clients and dialogue with the company’s multiple stakeholders. Snam.it does not take the form of a simple institutional website, but rather a platform filled with contents, able to offer a concrete response to the company needs. Within the website, specific tools have been developed for a better interaction with stakeholders, such as, for example, the redesigning of the areas dedicated to shippers of transmission, storage and regasification and the preparation of specific contents, such as the section dedicated to gas advocacy. During the year, the Global Solutions business unit website was developed, as well as the web areas dedicated to Snam4Mobility, Snam for Abruzzo and Snam for Minerbio. The quality of the work carried out on the web by Snam has been acknowledged a third place in the Italian and European Webranking classifications by Comprend. With 91.3 points out of 100, for the fifth year running, Snam has reached the podium of the best European companies for the care and transparency of financial and non-financial information presented on its website and the main social platforms.

In 2018, a significant increase was seen in Snam’s exposure on the main Italian and international media, with a marked increase in articles dedicated in particular to mattes of sustainable mobility, decarbonisation, the social commitment and technological innovation. Press office activities also sought to present the company’s positions and its openness to dialogue in the territories. In a parallel fashion, continuous growth has been recorded in the production of both text (news) and video contents on the proprietary platforms, from the website to social media. On the digital channels, Snam has created storytelling aimed at showcasing the company, its values, its people and new businesses; this activity has made it possible to significantly increase the Company’s follower base. Through a description of the aspects of excellence of its activities not strictly linked to the business and thanks to the use of an immediate language, Snam's social channels engage the community considerably and are a tool for the exchange of notes with its followers. Finally, they are a tool involving employees on all levels, which have become real “brand ambassadors” of the company’s values and vision. As evidence of such, Snam has been recognised by Lundquist as the best Italian company for the use of Facebook and mentioned as best practice by LinkedIn for the use of the professional platform.