The Mondadori Group has released its first Sustainability Plan – part of the 2021 Consolidated Non-Financial Statement – approved by the Board of Directors and endorsed by the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee.

The document – a summary of which is available in the Sustainability section at www.mondadorigroup.com– identifies strategic areas, qualitative and quantitative targets, and actions in the short and medium term for the ongoing improvement of performance in the social, governance and environmental areas, consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.

In its first edition, the Plan focuses on three main areas of action:

1) enhancing people, content and places for education and culture;

2) promoting sustainable business success;

3) dissemination of an environmental culture and mitigation of impacts on ecosystems.

There are eight relevant guidelines that reflect the Group’s identity and mission.

“The path that has led us to defining our first Sustainability Plan originates in the awareness that our role as a publisher calls for an innate and growing attention and ability to pay heed to the different realities we engage with“, said Antonio Porro, CEO of the Mondadori Group. “The evolution of society and the changes brought by the economic and technological scenario have, in fact, transformed our context of operation and the demands of our main stakeholders, whose needs and prospects are crucial for the very innovation of the company and its sustainable success. We have therefore taken the decision to effectively pursue specific goals in our priority areas, embarking on a journey that will also bring us gradually closer to market expectations on ESG topics. These include the dissemination of an inclusive culture, with actions for the enhancement and growth of our people”, concluded Porro.

APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY

The Mondadori Group’s first Sustainability Plan is the result of an approach developed over more than ten years of reporting in the field of sustainability, which now unfolds further, building on a project that has a far-reaching and organic vision and intends to add its contribution to achieving eight of the 17 SDGs launched globally by the United Nations.
The document was defined in accordance with the materiality analysis conducted and aimed at identifying the elements of strategic interest to the Group’s activities.
Focus points deriving from relevant key frameworks were highlighted and benchmark analyses were performed, as well as specific assessments of the value chain.
With a view to stakeholder inclusiveness, the development of the Plan was also marked by multiple stakeholder listening moments, including through surveys that actively involved Management, employees, and other relevant stakeholders, such as teachers, readers, bookstore customers and financial analysts.

TARGETS OF THE PLAN

Targets were identified within the Sustainability Plan for generating shared value over the short to medium term in the social, governance and environmental areas.
The pursuit of many of these targets represents a preliminary step in defining additional areas of action which will be outlined, with a view to ongoing improvement, in greater detail in future updates of the Sustainability Plan.

On the Social front in 2022, these include:

• development and endorsement of a well-structured framework of KPIs for monitoring all D&I-related actions, with specific regard to the gender pay gap and gender balance;
• redefinition of all Group policies in the area of selection and career development in order to increasingly attract all kinds of talent and promote resources based on a wider range of uniqueness models;
• launch of the “Parenthood” project to promote more inclusive models for access to motherhood and fatherhood, removing existing biases and facilitating the return to work by enhancing acquired skills;
• development of the Hybrid working project for the shared definition of a new mixed working model – through the creation of synergies and redefinition of new values – and extension of training in the area of digitization and new forms of work to all the people in the Group;
• a growing number of initiatives and services to promote reading.

On the Governance front in 2022:

• definition and measurement of ESG indicators with the introduction, among the targets of the 2022-2024 Performance Share Plan addressed to top management, of the Impact Inclusion Index, a composite indicator that measures, at the end of the three-year period, the dissemination within the Group of the culture of inclusion, the increase in the number of women in top positions, and the gradual reduction in the pay gap for same roles held;
• development and implementation of a refresher plan for Board Members and Management in the area of sustainability;
• strengthening of the set of procedures and coverage of the areas of Privacy, Information Management and Cyber Security;
• increase in stakeholder engagement activities through the gradual expansion of engagement initiatives and validation of a specific policy on the topic, also in line with the recommendations of the new Corporate Governance Code;
• validation of an anti-corruption Policy.

On the Environmental front in 2022:

• extension to 100% of the School proposition of insights and fact sheets dedicated to environmental culture and promotion of such content in the Trade proposition;
• fulfilment for the publications of the Group’s ≈100% purchase of paper certified to international PEFC/FSC standards aimed at safeguarding and ensuring the proper management of forest ecosystems;
• pursuit of energy efficiency actions, also as part of property/building/store renovation initiatives, and further activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.