Annual Report - EDP

: performance :between the local authorities and the company,guaranteeing the construction of new housingand social assistance for the respective families.3.8.2. NGONon-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)working in the field of social assistance havea specialised channel for relations with EDP inthe form of the EDP Foundation. EnvironmentalNGOs favour direct contact with the Group’senvironmental areas. There are several diverseprojects currently in progress, particularlythose arising from EDP’s Biodiversity Fund andthe construction of new hydroelectric projects.Further information in www.edp.pt> sustainability>environment> biodiversity> initiatives and www.anossa-energia.edp.pt.3.8.3. edp in the mediaThe EDP Group was the subject of a total of 58,914news items in the media in 2012, exceeding newscoverage in the preceding year.An analysis of 35,243 of those news items resultedin a favourability index of 3.2 on a scale of 1 to 5.All in all, 82% of the news reports were balanced,16% were considered negative and 2% positive.The privatisation process and purchase of 21.35%of EDP by China Three Gorges, which wascompleted in late 2011, was one of the main topicsin 2012. Other contents that featured prominentlywere the appointment of new governing bodies,the securing of financing and the sale of minorityassets in wind energy generation. The early periodof the year had the heaviest news coverage, withJanuary to March being the peak quarter.The financial reports and accounts, stockexchange performance, conclusion of theterms of the partnership agreed with the newshareholder, investments in renewable energiesand social responsibility initiatives account forthe greater part of the flow of information in thefirst quarter. These reports generally reflectedpositive connotations. The opposite is the casefor reports on rating downgrades, share prices,copper thefts, complaints about power outagesand pricing and the accident on the works to buildthe Foz Tua dam.The overall positive media presence of EDP hadthe equivalent financial value of over EUR 49 million.the EDP macro-structure, the president andsecretary-general of the National Associationof Portuguese Municipalities.º º Parliamentary groups – The relations with thisgroup were strengthened, providing it withinformation on the electricity and energy sectors,with a view to contributing to more substantiveand transparent debate of these matters. In thiscontext, in addition to the permanent dialogue,EDP also organised, and will continue to organise,visits to its power stations by parliamentarycommittees. By way of example, the Environment,Land Use Management and Local PowerParliamentary Committee visited the Picotepower station in 2012.º º Conference cycle with Portuguese universities– With the same aim of improving theinformation flow to important stakeholders,EDP has been organising a series ofconferences for teaching staff and students atthe leading Portuguese universities. At theseconferences we explain and debate our visionfor the energy sector in Portugal. The firstsession was held at the Economics Foundationof the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestãoand similar initiatives are planned for early2013 at the Instituto Superior Técnico and theUniversity of Porto’s Faculty of Engineering.º º Training regarding the Involvement of LocalCommunities – ComPRO – in Portugal, around150 Superior Technicians have already receivedspecific training towards the development of anopen, close relationship with local communities,thus allowing for operations coherent with thecompany’s values.For 2013 a survey of the main concerns/opportunities in terms of the relations with thevarious stakeholder segments is planned, whichis to be systematised in a quarterly internalreport. The aim is to guarantee sharing and thestrategic coordination of these relations, whichindeed should be close and optimised to thefull, managing them in such a way as to seeksynergies and opportunities for partnershipsin developing solutions to common challenges.3.8.4. initiatives withother importantstakeholdersIn 2012 EDP updated the mapping of its mainstakeholders, identifying a set of stakeholdersthat were considered priority cases because,despite their importance, they did not yet havea formal and consistent channel for interactionwith the Group or there was no EDP-internalcoordination of the various discussion partners.For this group of stakeholders a range of actionswas defined and implemented with a view tostrengthening relations and finding commonthemes of interest and thus developing jointinitiatives in the future.º º Cycle of talks with stakeholders – The aimof this initiative was to bring the EDP Groupmacro-structure together with representativesof certain stakeholder segments, with a viewto fostering open and informal debate onmaterially relevant topics and sharing at timesdiffering knowledge and approaches. Theguest of the first of these sessions was thePortuguese Consumer Protection Association,DECO. A new session in this cycle has alreadybeen held in 2013, furthering debate betweenEDP - Annual Report 201285