Strategy and sustainability / Sustainability

Ethical business operations

Business strategy, business model and core values.

Sustainable development that meets the needs of today without destroying the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable development sets requirements for responsible business conduct. Hafslund acts responsibly by taking its social mission seriously and does what it can to ensure that the Group fulfils the responsibility it has been assigned. Hafslund places an emphasis on a high level of professional integrity, good business practices and responsible and sustainable business. The Group is committed to maintaining high ethical standards in all business operations, has a zero-tolerance policy for corruption, and shall work actively with ethics and anti-corruption.

Hafslund’s core values state that the Group shall be “Open”, “Responsible” and “Innovative”. These core values shall be practised as much as possible in relation to employees, customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders.

Impact, risks and opportunities

Hafslund’s business operations involve ethical choices being made based on the Group’s values and, in so doing, contribute to sustainable development. Every business has an inherent risk of corruption, and important risk factors are inadequate information about and access to whistleblowing channels, insufficient training in ethics and anti-corruption, and a lack of control mechanisms for identifying potential cases of corruption.

There is a higher inherent risk of undesirable incidents in global supply chains that Hafslund operates in when purchasing components, raw materials and input factors for current energy production and for new development projects. Hafslund’s management system and the Group’s guidelines are examples of risk mitigation measures that reduce the probability of such incidents occurring.

Risks		Opportunities
Violations of laws and regulations		Intra- and inter-industrial collaboration
Improper behaviour		Use of guidelines and requirements
Financial improprieties misligheter		Training and attitude work

Policy/Guidelines

Hafslund’s ethical guidelines provide a framework for how Hafslund needs to act to ensure that the Group is operated in an ethical, sustainable and socially responsible manner. The guidelines stipulate principles and rules designed to help us make sound assessments and ethically correct choices in our day-to-day work. The guidelines apply to all employees in the Group and those acting on behalf of Hafslund, for example, directors and hired consultants. The CEO has the highest level of responsibility for the Group’s ethical guidelines. The managing directors of Hafslund Eco Vannkraft, Hafslund Oslo Celsio and Hafslund Vekst are responsible for communicating the guidelines and ensuring that they are complied with in their respective companies.

Hafslund strives to contribute to a high ethical standard in all business operations, including the supply chain. The Group’s companies conduct procurements in accordance with good business practice. The Group has implemented the Oslo Model, which is a collective term for a number of good practice provisions that are incorporated into contract terms for the purchase of goods and services, and building and construction. Hafslund sets clear requirements for its suppliers within all product and service areas.

Hafslund’s “Ethical guidelines and requirements for suppliers” set requirements for Hafslund’s suppliers. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that Hafslund’s suppliers and their subcontractors are aware of and committed to the guidelines and that this is consistent with Hafslund’s core values. There is a separate requirement in the guidelines that includes business ethics and professional integrity which states, among other things, that the supplier must maintain high ethical standards and good business practices. It also states that corruption and other financial improprieties are not accepted, and that the supplier must work actively to prevent all forms of corruption, extortion and money laundering. Other matters related to “Ethical business operations” covered in the guidelines are impartiality, whistleblowing, privacy and information security, tax obligations and competition regulations. The guidelines were revised in 2023.

Hafslund has established a whistleblowing channel in which employees and others can report illegal, dangerous or censurable conditions. The whistleblowing channel is administered and operated by an independent third party, personal data is processed through a data processor agreement, and any personal data is stored for no longer than is necessary to fulfil the purpose of the processing. The whistleblowing channel encourages the reporting of incidents if there is any doubt, and the following are examples of what can be reported:

Violations of laws, rules, internal guidelines or ethical norms.
Improper conduct, such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, racism, substance abuse and similar.
Financial improprieties, such as embezzlement, theft, fraud, corruption, procurement fraud, financial infidelity and similar.

The whistleblower themselves must decide whether or not the report should be anonymous. Hafslund has established the following principles for handling whistleblowing cases:

All reports are taken seriously.
All reports must be processed promptly.
The different whistleblowing procedures shall be assigned equal value.
All whistleblowing cases are treated confidentially.
The whistleblowing service must be able to be used without fear of consequences.

Principles in the Group sustainability policy that are directly related to the important sustainability topic of "Ethical business operations":

Hafslund will engage in business activities that are consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.
Hafslund has a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption or bribery.
Sustainability must be an integral part of risk management, investment decisions and procurement processes.

Actions

Signing of ethical guidelines

All of Haflund’s employees and Hafslund’s subcontractors and hired personnel must sign Hafslund’s ethical guidelines upon employment/engagement. The guidelines include rules for responsible personal conduct, good business practices, and notification and management of potential breaches. In 2024, Hafslund will update its ethical guidelines and prepare a learning and training plan to ensure that the ethical guidelines are followed and understood by all employees.

The Celsio School

The Celsio School continuously works to identify the need for expertise and training at the company, both legally required and other internal training. This is important for creating a safe and secure workplace and giving individuals a sense of mastery of their roles.

Metrics and targets

To ensure that Hafslund as a business acts in accordance with its core values and complies with the principles set out in its governing documents, the following metrics and targets have been defined:

Metrics and targets	Results 2023	Results 2022	Comments
All employees have signed ethical guidelines	-	-	All employees must sign ethical guidelines upon employment. There is currently a lack of a system for registration and further work is required to have this in place.
No known instances of Hafslund’s ethical guidelines having been violated	0	0
All suppliers must sign ethical guidelines and requirements for suppliers	-	-	Work is being done to establish a system for registration in parts of the Group.

Indicator table