The growing involvement of institutions, companies and individuals in sustainable development requires the adaptation of criteria, standards and guidelines in every sector. In 2020, for example, the new Corporate Governance Code for listed companies was issued, establishing that sustainable success and stakeholders are fundamental objectives and interlocutors in company management.

For the Mondadori Group too, therefore, there is a need to adapt its sustainability governance model to take these two factors into account. Already with the entry into force of Legislative Decree 254, our organization regarding sustainability issues and non-financial reporting has evolved, with the involvement of the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee and the Board of Statutory Auditors, and with the extension of the Sustainability Committee to all business functions.

The governance model

Under the scope of the strategic guidance issued by the Board of Directors, the pursuit – through a progressive training process structured according to the phases and methods explained in this document – of sustainable success becomes particularly important and is configured by the creation of value in the long-term, to the benefit of shareholders and taking account of the interests of all stakeholders relevant to the Issuer.

Under the scope of Sustainability Governance, the Control, Risks and Sustainability Committee plays an investigative, consulting role and makes suggestions to the Board of Directors on sustainability-related assessments and decisions with particular regard to the approval of the NFS and the Sustainability Plan.

In order to allow for further consolidation and optimisation of the organisational structure relative to sustainability oversight, the Board of Directors has assigned a senior management figure – Antonio Porro – the responsibility for the Development and Management of activities relating to Sustainability Plan and related topics.

In the exercise of the appointment, reporting hierarchically directly to the Board of Directors, Antonio Porro reports back periodically to the Control, Risk and Sustainability Committee.

The Internal Sustainability Committee instead oversees – reporting to the senior manager appointed as responsible for Development and Management identified above – proposals relating to ESG areas and non-financial reporting activities, which the Group has been developing since 2017 based on materiality analysis processes aligned with the company’s strategic approach, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer.

The Committee, chaired by the Communications Director, is made up of the corporate and business functions; it meets periodically to assess operational proposals in the field of sustainability, and reviews and validates the draft Consolidated Non-Financial Statement.

Values that inspire us

Consistent with the principles that inspire the management of the company, even in the organization and planning of sustainability activities we comply with all local, national and international regulations of the countries where we are present. Our points of reference are the values sanctioned by supranational bodies and organizations in documents and guidelines, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, from the principles sanctioned by the International Labor Organization to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines for multinational companies.

The concrete application of these principles is translated into our Model of organization, management and control, constantly updated and extended to all Group companies, together with our Code of Ethics, reformulated in 2012 to ensure greater adherence to changes in civil society and in the company itself.

Adherence to the SDGs

We believe that the commitment to improve the social and environmental sustainability of our company cannot be separated from the desire to contribute, with our actions, to a common effort to achieve shared goals. For this reason, we design our sustainability activities having as reference point the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN. And among the 17 goals, we have identified those for which we can work and make our contribution, because they are in line with our mission, our vocation as publishers and our role as a company.