Our strategic plan
Commitment
- Screen our operations and suppliers for ESG risks, including human rights risks, and collaborate with stakeholders to support mitigation measures.
Targets
- Become actively involved in up to three multistakeholder associations by 2023 that support ESG due diligence along the supply chain for Uniper’s energy commodities.
Ensuring respect for human rights
Severe human rights violations such as unlawful forced displacements or forced labor can be a direct or indirect consequence of business activities. This is particularly the case in countries with a history of insufficient standards for security, social development, and inclusion.
Uniper does not tolerate human rights violations anywhere in our business or along our supply chain. We therefore systematically screen our operations and suppliers for ESG risks, including human rights risks.
59%
of our active counterparties were assessed in 2021.
By the end of 2021, we’d used our screening process to assess 59% of our active counterparties. The target for year-end 2022 is 100%.
To enhance our human rights commitment and effort, we set a new target. By 2023, we aim to become actively involved in up to three multistakeholder associations that support ESG due diligence along our energy commodity supply chain.
Bettercoal
In 2021, Uniper bought 12,1 million metric tons of coal. It’s thus our responsibility to help establish adequate measures to prevent, monitor, and mitigate human rights risks in the coal supply chain. We engage with our suppliers both directly and in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and multistakeholder initiatives.
Uniper is a founding member of Bettercoal, a not-for-profit initiative established by a group of major European utilities committed to a more responsible coal supply chain. Bettercoal assesses the performance of coal mining companies against its Code 2.0, which includes detailed provisions for human rights due diligence. In response to the assessments, the companies design and implement continuous improvement plans.
Bettercoal established country-specific working groups in 2018. The aim is to better coordinate its monitoring of improvement plans and to facilitate the dialogue with relevant stakeholders. Uniper chairs Bettercoal’s Colombia working group and was a member of the Russian working group. The latter group’s activities are now suspended due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis.
71%
of our coal was purchased directly from Bettercoal suppliers.
We track the proportion of coal we purchase under direct contracts from Bettercoal suppliers. 71% of our directly purchased coal came from Bettercoal suppliers in 2021 compared with 68% in 2020.
Sustainability criteria in supplier selection
13%
of all tenders in 2021 included sustainability criteria.
We require all suppliers to comply with the Uniper Supplier Code of Conduct. In 2021 we introduced a new spreadsheet tool. It enables us to identify additional sustainability criteria, such as those related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We aim to apply sustainability criteria to 20% of all tenders in 2022.
Contact
Andreas Niehoff
Kathrin Becker
Anne Hem
