Appendix

Note on methods

SCOPE AND CRITERIA

[G4-17b] The Sustainability Report has the same consolidation scope as the Consolidated Financial Statements, except for some information (particularly associated with environmental performance) highlighted in the text1.

In accordance with the triple bottom line2 approach, the company’s economic and financial data has to be shown together with the environmental and social results. The overall analysis of company performance including all three dimensions provides stakeholders with complete and comprehensive information and allows interests to be balanced in a way that guarantees the success and survival of the company in the medium and long term. For  this reason,       as of 2003, the Group has integrated the sustainability data in the Consolidated Financial Statements, in fact preceding the application of European Directive 51/2003 of Legislative Decree No. 32 of February 2 and the recent provisions of the Legislative Decree No. 254 of 30 December 2016, implementing the European Directive No. 95/2014 on the disclosure of non- financial information.

[G4-28], [G4-30] The  Sustainability  Report3,  which  is  drawn  up  for  every  calendar  year, complies with the same deadlines as the Group’s Annual Financial Report and uses a multi- stakeholder approach, involving the joint analysis of actions taken in respect of the main stakeholders with whom the Company interacts. It is based on the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the GRI, G4 version (comprehensive option) and the principles (inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness) of the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles Standard (APS 2008), adopted as of the 2009 Financial Statements.

The Sustainability Report is drawn up according to a system of indicators (KPI - Key Performance Indicators) which measure the company’s performance and the degree of achievement of objectives previously established for areas in which the Company has major impact.

The KPIs are defined on the basis of:

  • the analysis of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an international organisation which develops universally applicable guidelines for drawing up sustainability reports;
  • the demands received from stakeholders;
  • the questionnaires sent out by the leading rating agencies for the purpose of admission to the stock market sustainability indexes;
  • the experience the Company has gained in the field of sustainability in 20 years. 

The KPIs are managed on a dedicated application system that uses the same platform used for financial reporting and controlling.

The TIM Sustainability Report’s compliance with the GRI G4 standard, comprehensive option, is verified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (see Independent Auditor’s Report).

   

1 In accordance with the materiality principle, in these cases only information relating to companies with more than 40 employees and a turnover of more than 300,000 euros are included. Furthermore, for environmental data, in order to allow a proper assessment of the trend, the scope used in previous years is redefined according to the last year.

2 This approach was defined for the first time by John Elkington in 1994 in the article “Towards the sustainable corporation: Win-win-win business strategies for sustainable development”. California Management Review 36, no. 2: 2: 90-100.

3[G4-29]  The Group sustainability report for 2015 was approved by the Board of Directors in March 2016.