Interview with Raffaella Bordogna (Eni S.p.A.)

1. When did your organization publish first integrated report? What were the main reasons/motives to start preparing and joining the IIRC Pilot Program?

The 2011 Annual Report, published on April 2012, is eni’s first integrated Report and describes the integration of financial and non financial information with a forward-looking perspective in order to communicate business value.

In 2010, after the fourth edition of the annual Sustainability Report, eni began a process leading towards the preparation of an integrated report in order to give evidence on how sustainability is embedded in corporate strategies and planning.

Eni believes that corporate reporting is evolving due to the need to represent, primarily to the financial community, how the company creates sustainable value in the medium and long term, through an integrated management of the business. Eni believes that participating to the IIRC Pilot Program is a great opportunity  to work  together with different companies of different countries in order to develop a new reporting system.

2. How do you engage with stakeholders while preparing integrated report? What communication tools (including face-to-face and online) do you use?

Eni believes that the integrated report is dedicated to the financial community, so we engage with them in order to involve financial stakeholders in the improvement of corporate reporting. In particular, after the first integrated reporting year, we organized a conference call with our main financial stakeholders and we collect their feedbacks on integration and on our integrated report.

3. Who and how defines materiality of issues to be included in the integrated report?

The materiality analysis carried out to select information aims to define the topics considered most relevant and significant for the Company and for its main reference stakeholders.The level of interest and the external significance of the subject matters arise from the context in which Eni works, from the evolution of trends that characterised not only the energy industry but also the entire international panorama, and from the commitments undertaken by Eni at an international level.

The stakeholders considered in the definition of materiality include rating agencies, institutions, governments, international associations, NGOs and Eni’s people . The level of internal significance of  topics is, instead, determined analysing the short/long-term strategy.

The results that emerge from comparing the external and internal expectations are, finally, reassessed by the senior managers responsible for defining the relevant topics, publicly presented.

4. In what way the reliability of information in integrated report is achieved? Who provides assurance of the report? Do you have stakeholder assurance of the integrated report?

The Integrated Report was reviewed and assured by an independent auditors. Two opinions were provided :

a. The first regarding financial and economic information as foreseen by articles 14 and 16 of Law 39/2010.

b. The second, limited assurance statement, on the Consolidated Sustainability Statements, regarding non financial information, in accordance with the ISAE 3000 standard and the correspondence to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Both assurance statements include the assessment regarding coherence and consistency with the Management Report.

5. In what way does affect management processes and decisions in the organization, communication between separate departments? Does your organization have a so called ‘integrated thinking’?

Following eni's participation in the IIRC Pilot Program, a project team composed of a steering committee and of a working group has been created. The steering committee is mandated to approve the reporting structure following the guidelines contained in the reporting framework developed by the IIRC. The working group composed by different departments (financial, governance, planning, sustainability) is mandated to support the steering committee in preparing the framework. Thus,   has stimulated an integrated communication between different departments. In the last six years Eni started a process in order to integrate sustainability in all the corporate processes. The first step of our integrated thinking was the creation of a sustainability management system that was integrated and cross-cutting to all business areas. The second step was the integration of sustainability in the corporate planning process which led to the introduction of sustainability objectives in the Eni strategic plan. The projects of integrated risk management and the reporting one are  ongoing.

6. What challenges do you face while preparing an integrated report?

The integrated report should comply with the relevant legislation as defined by the Italian Law and by IASB as it should be elaborate on the basis of IFRS.

Another challenge could be defining a reporting correlations system which describe the link between financial and non financial performance.

7. What benefits has your organization gained (for example, improvement of data collection system) or plans to gain as a result of adopting ?

From internal and external point of view , the integrated report is an opportunity to provide a more complete picture of value. Thanks to the project of integrated reporting the awareness of an integrated thinking is enhanced.