The OTE Group companies identify the most important issues of their sustainable development through the “Analysis of material issues” carried out in accordance with the Group's unified Enterprise Risk Management methodology.
In 2022, OTE Group conducted a materiality analysis taking into account the double materiality perspective through the participation of OTE Group's Senior Management and the engagement of its stakeholders and as a result identified key risks and opportunities. The Compliance Risk Assessment process was integrated in the materiality analysis process. OTE Group has merged its sustainability, compliance and risk management procedures, developing a holistic approach, according to best practices.
In 2022, the materiality analysis was conducted in the following two dimensions (i.e. “double materiality”):
- The “internal impact materiality”: Assessing the impact of the selected issues on the Group’s operations and sustainability performance (“internal” impact, including financial parameters).
- The “external impact materiality”: Assessing the impact of the issues on the economy, society and the environment (“external” impact) including their impacts on human rights.
This process follows international trends and best practices while also takes into consideration the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs), referred in the European Directive 2022/2464 regarding corporate sustainability reporting, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – CSRD.
Senior Management members took part in the evaluation by assessing the likelihood of occurrence and the impact of all the listed issues for OTE Group (internal impact materiality), as well as by prioritizing the issues based on their level of impact to the economy, the environment and society -including impacts on human rights (external impact materiality), in the next 2-3 years. In addition, stakeholders were invited to submit their opinions by rating each issue (using a 5-grade scale) through an online questionnaire.
The issues were categorized in respect to their significance using the a) impact on the economy, environment and society, as recognized by OTE Senior Management and stakeholders, and b) the impact on the Group’s operations and sustainability performance, as identified by the Group’s Senior Management.
The materiality analysis results were validated by the OTE Group Senior Management and reviewed by the company’s Board of Directors, while all available data were evaluated to be used in the Group's operations planning and strategy.