Press releases

2022-07-25 The Group has successfully concluded its certification process with the multinational Bureau Veritas, the sector’s leader, confirming the commitment shown by Hera over the years with numerous projects and initiatives favouring the circular economy. For its circular economy projects, Hera has obtained from Bureau Veritas Italia, a leading multinational certification company, the certificate for the AFNOR XP X30-901 standard, the first issued to an Italian multi-utility. The French AFNOR XP X 30-901 standard is now the main international reference for implementing a management system for circular economy projects. This model, in fact, provides a point of reference for all companies that, wishing to adopt circular solutions within their production systems, need a certifiable guide on which to base themselves. Certification for the AFNOR standard encourages standardisation of corporate methodologies for project management, achieved by adopting a concrete tool to carry out a critical analysis of these methods in relation to areas of action and environmental, social and economic factors. More specifically, it is based on a matrix that combines the 3 classical factors involved in sustainability (environment, economy, society) with the 7 action areas of the circular economy (Sustainable Procurement, Eco-design, Industrial Symbiosis, Functional Economy, Responsible Consumption, Product Life Extension, Efficient Product and Material Management). Hera has implemented a management system for its circular economy projects and has set up the following three, according to this matrix: the “O.V.E.” project to transform the exhausted vegetable oils collected in the served area into biofuel; a project to integrate circularity criteria into procurement; and a project to reuse purified wastewater. Bureau Veritas Italia was therefore called upon to analyse them in detail and has certified the compliance of the company’s management system for circular economy projects with the AFNOR standard. “Obtaining this certification guarantees greater transparency in the results achieved by the Hera Group in the area of the Circular Economy towards all its stakeholders”, comments Marcello Guerrini, Group Manager of Corporate Services. “Sustainable development has always been at the heart of our company’s strategies, across all of its businesses, and the application of the management system foreseen by the AFNOR standard, certified by an authoritative third-party body such as Bureau Veritas, gives value to all the efforts made over the years and contributes to responding even more efficiently to Goal 12 of the 2030 UN Agenda (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns). It thus represents a further important step for the Hera Group, which for years has been committed to initiatives aimed at favouring the transition towards an increasingly circular economy.” Andrea Filippi, Certification Service Line Manager of Bureau Veritas Italia points out that “the transition from the current linear economic system to a circular economy model goes through concrete and verifiable actions. Bureau Veritas Italia stays by the side of organisations that – like Hera – choose innovative circular models by measuring themselves against international best practices. Thanks to the management system foreseen by AFNOR XP X 30-901, companies benefit from a roadmap that helps them define objectives, measure and communicate their circularity performance.” 20220725 Bureau Veritas circular economy certification.pdf 11:10:00 Nuova_Palazzina_110x150.1533218221.jpg See the press release Nuova_Palazzina_110x150.1533218221.jpg

2022-06-30 With the acquisition of 70% of this long-standing company based in the Marche region, the Hera Group subsidiary expects a 10% increase in turnover and a 5% rise in Ebitda, when in full force. With this additional transaction, which follows up on others carried out in previous years, the Hera Group has strengthened its national leadership in the waste management sector, regarding in particular industrial waste management and treatment. The Hera Group, acting through its subsidiary Marche Multiservizi, the leading operator in public utilities in the Marche region, has acquired from the Iesari family 70% of Macero Maceratese, a long-standing company in this area, operating since 1969 in the waste management sector, whose customers are mainly located in the province of Macerata and to a lesser degree in the remaining provinces of the Marche region, as well as in the neighbouring regions of Abruzzo and Umbria. With this additional transaction, the Hera Group has strengthened its national leadership in the waste management sector, thus making its state-of-the-art set of plants, as well as an all-round service for special waste, available to local companies who were previously customers of Macero Maceratese. By operating on the free market and creating significant synergies both with the other companies of the Hera Group active in waste treatment and with its own industrial poles already operating in the province of Pesaro and Urbino, Marche Multiservizi expects, when in full force, a 10% increase in turnover and a 5% increase in Ebitda, with an overall benefit for all stakeholders in the area served. This acquisition, which follows up on the transactions carried out in recent years by the Hera Group (including Waste Recycling, Teseco and Pistoia Ambiente in Tuscany, as well as Geo Nova and Aliplast in Treviso, Recycla in Friuli, the Vallortigara Group in Vicenza and a 31% stake in SEA in the Marche region), represents a new step along Hera’s path of continuous growth, which aims to provide companies with efficient, cutting-edge and competitive solutions in terms of costs and sustainability in the circular economy. History and activities of Macero Maceratese Widely recognised and consolidated in central Italy, for over 50 years Macero Maceratese has been dealing with services related to managing the waste produced by local industries, including SMEs and large-scale retail trade, and activities related to managing municipal waste, partially destined for energy recovery and landfills, and partially for treatment and recovery. With 30 employees working at three sites in Macerata, Piediripa di Macerata and Martinsicuro (Teramo province), in the last three years Macero Maceratese has handled an annual average of 58 thousand tonnes of waste. The main plant in Piediripa di Macerata is home of two large-capacity pressing plants, a shredding plant and a waste sorting plant, which boast ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification, modern equipment and qualified personnel. “With this acquisition, we are continuing our significant strategic growth in the industrial waste sector and further strengthening our leadership in the waste management sector. The entry of this Macerata-based company into our Group and the synergies between these new platforms and our current set of plants will increase the number of our close-at-hand solutions in the areas served, improving the efficiency and quality of services to local businesses with positive returns on the areas served and economic benefits for customers”, comments Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Executive Chairman of the Hera Group. “With the authorisations and facilities of this historic company based in Macerata, and above all thanks to its know-how and expertise, Marche Multiservizi will be able to provide local businesses in the provinces of Macerata, Ascoli, Fermo and Pesaro and Urbino with a complete service, in particular concerning collection, transport and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous special waste, confirming the strong roots of our multi-utility in this area”, adds Mauro Tiviroli, CEO of Marche Multiservizi. 20220630 Marche Multiservizi acquisisce Macero Maceratese_eng.pdf 10:52:00 Nuova_Palazzina_110x150.1533218221.jpg See the press release Nuova_Palazzina_110x150.1533218221.jpg

2022-06-15 For the second year in a row, the Group leads the overall ranking in the index measuring the degree to which ESG factors are integrated within corporate governance. Hera is the foremost company in Italy for the importance of sustainability policies, fully and consciously incorporated within its business strategies. This is demonstrated, for the second consecutive year, by the Integrated Governance Index, the main quantitative index to measure the integration of ESG factors in corporate governance, managed by ETicaNews and presented today in Milan at the ESG Business Conference. “We are very pleased with this recognition”, remarks the Hera Group’s Executive Chairman, Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, “since it rewards the attention we have always paid to governance, which has been the key to face successfully the challenges in all these years. This has not only led us to increase by six times the Group’s capitalisation, but also to undergo processes of profound changes and transformation, always guaranteeing strategic consistency and ever-growing results to the benefit of all our stakeholders.” Sustainability at the heart of Hera’s strategies Ever since its foundation, sustainability has been at the core of Hera’s strategy. This award is therefore fully in line with the cultural transformation that began 20 years ago and has concerned all aspects of the Group. ESG factors are indeed fully integrated within the company’s activities and represent a strategic asset in all respects. The Group’s attention to sustainability is also proven by the recent transformation of subsidiary Hera Luce into a Benefit Corporation. This decision represents a further step towards sustainable development, following last year’s introduction of the concept of corporate purpose into the Group’s Articles of Association. The central role played by creating shared value also becomes clear in the Group’s 2021 Sustainability Report, which for the first time reports on activities consistent with the European Union taxonomy, ahead of the regulatory obligation that will only come into force in 2023. Lastly, as far as sustainable finance is concerned and in line with the growing interest shown by investors in ESG factors, Hera – the first company in Italy to issue a “green” bond in 2014 – recently successfully launched its third green bond, offering the market the possibility to invest in the Group’s activities that comply with the criteria in the European Taxonomy. The Group has also published a new Green Financing Framework (GFF), certified by an independent company and already aligned with the Taxonomy. 20220615 PR IGI 2022 HERA Group.pdf 14:12:00 Logo IGI 2022 - vert.jpg See the press release Logo IGI 2022 - vert.jpg

2022-06-08 The Hera Group subsidiary is among the first public lighting companies in Italy to include in its articles of association a commitment to produce benefits for its stakeholders, demonstrating Hera’s focus on sustainable development and creating value for the local areas and communities served At a time when the climate emergency and social demands are current issues, the Hera Group has further strengthened its twenty-year commitment to sustainable development and creating value for the local areas and communities it serves. It has done so by transforming Group subsidiary Hera Luce, one of the nation’s foremost operators in the public lighting sector and a leader in sustainable city lighting services with energy efficiency and circular economy solutions, into a Benefit Corporation. This is not, however, a true revolution for the Bologna-based company, but rather a further step along the path taken by the Hera Group last year, when it introduced the concept of “corporate purpose” into its Articles of Association. One of the first companies in Italy to do so, Hera thus made explicit the objectives it aims to achieve in carrying out its business activities and reaffirmed the focus on sustainability that has characterised it since its establishment. Hera Luce’s Shareholders Meeting approved the transformation of this company into a Benefit Corporation (pursuant to and in accordance with Law no. 208 of 28 December 2015) by amending article 3 of its Articles of Association, which now includes the aim of “operating responsibly, sustainably and transparently towards people, communities, local areas and the environment as well as cultural, social resources and activities, authorities, associations and other stakeholders”. Hera Luce made this choice on a voluntary basis, one of the first in Italy in the public lighting sector to take this initiative: thanks to this change in its articles of association, transparency and benefits for stakeholders have definitively become part of its corporate DNA. Three specific purposes are involved in the shared benefit that Hera Luce intends to pursue: contributing to the prosperity of the local communities in which the company operates, by designing and implementing sustainable, resilient and innovative models for urban development, to approach interventions on cities (Hera Luce for smart circular city/land); pursuing carbon neutrality, by acting through interventions aimed at energy efficiency and the energy transition towards renewable sources; leading the transition towards a circular economy model through means including measuring circularity from a lifecycle perspective. These are specific goals related to environmental issues, energy efficiency and transition as well as the circular economy. This Hera Group subsidiary aims to achieve them by ensuring the best working conditions for its own employees and those of its suppliers, and by promoting public-private collaboration in a multi-stakeholder approach. By becoming a Benefit Corporation, in compliance with current legislation, Hera Luce will be required to draw up an annual report on its pursuit of shared benefits, to be attached to the company’s financial statements, which will be published on Hera Luce’s website. “At Hera, we are aware that we have a great responsibility towards the local areas in which we operate”, states Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Executive Chairman of the Hera Group. “In our twenty years of activity, the Hera Group has placed the sustainable development of its businesses and the communities it serves at the centre of its strategy, always putting the generation of value at the heart of its relationship with all stakeholders served by the company, first and foremost its own employees, and extending it to institutions, local communities, shareholders, customers and suppliers. The transformation of our subsidiary Hera Luce into a Benefit Corporation reinforces our Group’s commitment to balanced and sustainable development through concrete and innovative projects for the energy transition, circular economy and technological evolution.” “This is a very important goal, that comes on top of the certification of the Material Circularity Report we obtained at the beginning of this year”, explains Alessandro Battistini, General Manager of Hera Luce. “Becoming a Benefit Corporation represents a commitment and a responsibility of which we are deeply aware. For Hera Luce, projects have always been characterised by their value in social and environmental terms, as well as their transparency. This choice represents a further step towards concretely achieving the model of corporate sustainability required by the market.” Legally introduced in Italy in 2016, Benefit Corporations represent an evolution of the concept of a company, with a view to sustainability and common benefit. They are, in fact, companies that decide to integrate within their corporate purpose, in addition to the objectives of profit and profit sharing, the aim of having a positive impact on society and the biosphere. 20220608_Hera Luce becomes benefit corporation FINAL.pdf 11:26:00 Economia circolare 2.jpg See the press release Economia circolare 2.jpg