Global Reporting Initiative
Governance, Commitments and Engagement
Degree of compliance with GRI standard disclosures
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Standard disclosure fully covered |  |
Standard disclosure partially covered |  |
Standard disclosure not covered |
| GRI no. | Standard disclosures | References and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Governance | ||
| 4.1 |
Governance structure of the organization, including committees under the highest governance body responsible for specific tasks, such as setting strategy or organizational oversight. |
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 4.2 |
Indicate whether the Chair of the highest governance body is also an executive officer (and, if so, their function within the organization's management and the reasons for this arrangement). |
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| 4.3 |
For organizations that have a unitary board structure, state the number of members of the highest governance body that are independent and/or nonexecutive members. |
Only two members of the Board of Directors–one of them the President and Chief Executive Officer–are not independent members.
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| 4.4 |
Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body. |
Under its act of incorporation, Hydro-Québec is a mandatary (agent) of the State. The shares of the Company are part of the domain of the State, and are allotted to the Minister of Finance. The Québec government appoints the members of the Board based on the expertise and experience profiles established by the company. Employees are not represented within the Board.
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| 4.5 |
Linkage between compensation for members of the highest governance body, senior managers, and executives (including departure arrangements), and the organization's performance (including social and environmental performance). |
Hydro-Québec applies a variable compensation policy for its executives and employees, based on the achievement of corporate or individual objectives. The objectives concern measurable results for the shareholder (financial performance), customers (service quality) and employees (health, safety and motivation).
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| 4.6 |
Processes in place for the highest governance body to ensure conflicts of interest are avoided. |
Hydro-Québec's directors, executives and controllers are governed by a code of ethics and rules of professional conduct, which set out their duties and obligations with respect to conflicts of interest. In 2009, the Board of Directors updated the Code of Ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct, making individuals accountable for declaring any fact, situation or event that could place them in a conflict of interest situation or be perceived as such.
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| 4.7 |
Process for determining the qualifications and expertise of the members of the highest governance body for guiding the organization's strategy on economic, environmental, and social topics. |
Pursuant to the Hydro-Québec Act, in July 2007, the Board of Directors approved profiles of Board member qualifications and experience. The profiles, updated in 2009, list the prerequisites for Board members. They also list the qualifications and experience needed by the Board as a whole for various sectors of activity, including energy, engineering, technology, finance, accounting, environment and human resources management. The Board member expertise and experience profiles were reviewed in 2010 but not amended.
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| 4.8 |
Internally developed statements of mission or values, codes of conduct, and principles relevant to economic, environmental, and social performance and the status of their implementation. |
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| 4.9 |
Procedures of the highest governance body for overseeing the organization's identification and management of economic, environmental, and social performance, including relevant risks and opportunities, and adherence or compliance with internationally agreed standards, codes of conduct, and principles. |
In 2010, a report on the company's policies was presented to the Board.
In addition, with the support of its various committees, the Board received and analyzed a number of reports covering such topics as compliance and environmental legislation, sustainability, the Fondation Hydro-Québec pour l'environnement and the activities of standing liaison committees.
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| 4.10 |
Processes for evaluating the highest governance body's own performance, particularly with respect to economic, environmental and social performance. |
The Governance and Ethics Committee assessed the performance of the Board of Directors in 2010. The directors completed a questionnaire based on criteria approved by the Board, to which the results were submitted.
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| Commitments to external initiatives | ||
| 4.11 |
Explanation of whether and how the precautionary approach or principle is addressed by the organization. | |
| 4.12 |
Externally developed economic, environmental, and social charters, principles, or other initiatives to which the organization subscribes or endorses. |
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| 4.13 |
Memberships in associations (such as industry associations) and/or national/international advocacy organizations in which the organization:
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| Stakeholder engagement | ||
| 4.14 |
List of stakeholder groups engaged by the organization. |
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| 4.15 |
Basis for identification and selection of stakeholders with whom to engage. |
Hydro-Québec identifies its partners in terms of the main issues raised by its activities; these issues include energy efficiency, development of renewable energy sources and technological innovation. Stakeholders concerned by the company's main issues are systematically consulted. |
| 4.16 |
Approaches to stakeholder engagement, including frequency of engagement by type and by stakeholder group. |
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| 4.17 |
Key topics and concerns that have been raised through stakeholder engagement, and how the organization has responded to those key topics and concerns, including through its reporting. |
The objectives of the company strategic plan are developed in terms of customer expectations, which the company tracks through a table of customer expectations. This process ranks customer expectations and rates the degree to which they are met, which helps Hydro-Québec improve its business processes, set improvement targets and identify ways to reach such targets.
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